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Peacock European rollout begins on Sky

Sky and NBCUniversal have confirmed plans to rollout Peacock content across Sky territories , beginning with a soft launch in the UK and Ireland . Starting November 16 th and included at no additional cost , Sky TV customers and NOW Entertainment Members

in these markets will enjoy early access to a new Peacock destination , featuring a growing catalogue of original and iconic TV shows and movies from across NBCUniversal , that will be ramping-up over the coming months .
“ The introduction of Peacock content on Sky and NOW will expand the incredible line-up available to all our customers , giving them access to even more of the best entertainment from our partners at NBCUniversal ,” stated Zai Bennett ,
managing director , content , Sky UK and Ireland . “ With brand new Peacock Originals , must-watch reality and hit library series we couldn ’ t be more excited to add Peacock for all our customers , at no extra cost ”
“ Following its successful phased launch in the US , we are excited to mark the international debut of Peacock content in the UK and Ireland on Sky ,” added Lee Raftery , managing director , Europe , Middle East & Africa , NBCUniversal . “ Peacock provides Sky customers with an expanded catalogue of world-class content , including many of our most popular movies and shows from Peacock and across NBCUniversal .”
Peacock will continue to expand its offering with thousands of hours of the best content from NBCUniversal and beyond , including popular titles available now and in the coming months such as :
• Peacock Originals including current series
• Current and Classic TV Shows iincluding fan-favourites ; popular dramas ; unscripted hits such and bingeable franchises .
• Movies Peacock will continue to rollout the content destination across Sky platforms in territories including Germany , Italy , Austria , and Switzerland in the coming months , making it available to almost 20 million Sky customers in total .
“ The introduction of Peacock content on Sky and NOW will expand the incredible line-up available to all our customers .”
UK movie pirate guilty plea
George Bridi , a UK citizen ,
has pleaded guilty for his
role in the Sparks Group , an
international piracy group that
illegally distributed movies and
TV shows on the Internet . Bridi
pleaded guilty in November
before US District Judge Richard
M . Berman .
“ As he admitted in court today ,
George Bridi participated in an
international video piracy ring that
illegally distributed worldwide on
the Internet nearly every movie
released by major production
studios , as well as television
shows ,” said prosecutors .
“ Bridi circumvented copyright
protections on DVDs and Blu-Ray
discs to illegally share movies
online , but he and his crew could
not evade law enforcement
scrutiny , and Bridi now awaits sentencing for his crime .” As alleged in the Indictment and statements made in open court :
• Between 2011 and the present , Bridi and others known and unknown were members of the Sparks Group , a criminal organisation that disseminated on the Internet movies and TV shows prior to their retail release date .
• In furtherance of its scheme , the Sparks Group fraudulently obtained copyrighted DVDs and Blu- Ray discs from wholesale distributors in advance of their retail release date by , among other things , making various misrepresentations to the wholesale distributors .
• Sparks Group members then used computers with
specialised software to compromise the copyright protections on the discs , Sparks Group members then uploaded copies of the copyrighted content onto servers controlled by the Sparks Group , where other members further reproduced and disseminated the content on streaming websites , peerto-peer networks , torrent networks , and other servers accessible to public . The Sparks Group identified its reproductions by encoding the filenames of reproduced copyrighted content with distinctive tags , and also uploaded photographs of the discs in their original packaging to demonstrate that the reproduced content originated from authentic
DVDs and Blu-Ray discs .
• Bridi arranged for discs to be picked up , mailed , or delivered from distributors located in Manhattan , Brooklyn , and New Jersey to other members of the Sparks Group prior to their official release date . Bridi then reproduced , and aided and abetted the reproduction of , these discs by using computer software that circumvented copyright protections on the discs and reproducing the copyrighted content for further distribution on the Internet . Bridi , pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement , which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison . Bridi is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2022 .
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