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Amazon, Netflix, Hollywood sue $20-a-month Set TV streaming service

Amazon, Netflix, and plenty more claim to have proof the $20-a-month Set TV was too good to be legal.

Sean Hollister Senior Editor / Reviews
When his parents denied him a Super NES, he got mad. When they traded a prize Sega Genesis for a 2400 baud modem, he got even. Years of Internet shareware, eBay'd possessions and video game testing jobs after that, he joined Engadget. He helped found The Verge, and later served as Gizmodo's reviews editor. When he's not madly testing laptops, apps, virtual reality experiences, and whatever new gadget will supposedly change the world, he likes to kick back with some games, a good Nerf blaster, and a bottle of Tejava.
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Sean Hollister
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Set TV

Would you pay $20-a-month for an all-you-can-eat buffet of Hollywood movies and 500 channels of live TV streamed to your PC, tablet or phone? That's what a service called Set TV promises -- but a coalition made up of Amazon, Netflix and a number of Hollywood studios claim the company is streaming at least some of those things illegally and has filed a lawsuit.

The list of plaintiffs (who are all members of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment) include:

  • Amazon
  • Columbia Pictures
  • Disney
  • Netflix
  • Paramount
  • Sony Pictures
  • Twentieth Century Fox
  • Universal
  • Warner Bros.

"The service provides hallmarks of using authorized streaming services -- a user-friendly interface and reliable access to popular content -- but with a notable exception: the customers only pay money to Defendants, not to Plaintiffs and other content creators," reads a passage in the lawsuit.

In other words, Hollywood's saying that though Set TV looks legit, you might be streaming stolen goods -- not ones Set TV has bought and paid for. 

Set TV didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Plaintiffs are looking to either get damages and profits from Set TV, or charge them the statutory fee: up to $150,000 for each copyrighted work that Set TV may have shared illegally.

via Geekwire