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To appeal to customers who want live TV for less, Telus is launching a new service in Alberta and B.C. called Pik TV that provides licensed live TV, on demand content in an interface that connects to Netflix and YouTube.

BCE Inc., which already offers video streaming service CraveTV, will launch a new over-the-top streaming service next week.

Rogers Communications Inc. makes a variety of content available with streaming packages such as Sportsnet NOW. As customers shift to watch content on platforms including TV, online and apps, the industry is evolving with them, spokeswoman Sarah Schmidt said in an email.

“But content creators deserve to get paid for their work so they can keep creating the shows and movies we all love, which is why we all need to work together to stop piracy.”

Indeed, Bell, Rogers and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron already teamed up to ensure the boxes don’t further erode cable subscriptions. They took about 55 box dealers that market the devices as a way to avoid cable bills to federal court last year. A judge placed an injunction on the sale of these boxes during the legal case, a ruling that was upheld in appeal court this spring.

“Content piracy is illegal no matter the platform and it continues to have a negative impact on Canadian content creators and broadcasters,” Bell spokesman Marc Choma said in an email.

In late April, the European Union’s Court of Justice ruled it’s illegal to sell multimedia players that are clearly set up to access videos illegally. The U.K. is also hunting down sellers of these devices, a charge led by the English Premier League, Deeth said. Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. recently prohibited sales of streaming media players unauthorized access to protected content.

When people access content without paying, the money doesn’t flow to producers as it does when consumers pay for cable or streaming subscriptions, said Erin Finlay, chief legal officer at the Canadian Media Producers Association.

She said it’s important to educate consumers that these boxes aren’t necessarily legal.

“The big concern is that these set-top boxes may feel legitimate, but like any other tool they can be used for good and not so good.”

Financial Post