Posted August 02, 2018 16:07:52 Australia’s biggest streaming service will kill you, Australia’s big four telcos have said, after they warned that it will kill the industry.
Auckland-based Stream 4U, which offers TV shows like Game of Thrones and Doctor Who, will be taken offline on August 2 and the company will be sold off.
Stream 4u chief executive officer Tony Jones said he would “do everything in my power” to “protect the entertainment industry”.
“We are extremely passionate about what we do,” he said.
“We want to help people watch TV.
We don’t want to kill the game.”
The company said it would “keep all content” and said it planned to “re-launch as soon as possible”.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said Stream 4 U would be taken down for “serious and unlawful breaches” and “serious harm to consumers”.
The company has also warned that its service could cause a “significant impact” on its ability to compete.
In a statement, the ACCC said Stream was not allowed to sell content in Australia because it had not secured licences.
It said it had been given “no indication” that Stream 4, which launched in Australia in 2017, had the right licences to operate in the country.
“The ACCC is aware of the alleged breaches of Australian consumer law, including breach of the Australian Consumer Law,” the ACCCM said.
Stream, which also runs an online video service called VidCon, was started in Australia by former US TV producer Andrew Kreisberg and Australian entrepreneur Peter Davenport.
It was one of the first streaming services to be launched in the US.