ITV has renewed its partnership with Friend MTS, further extending its protection of the broadcaster’s content.
The new two-year agreement will see Friend MTS continue to defend ITV against the threat of content piracy, said the company. ITV will continue to protect its main linear channels across streaming and broadcast platforms with the Friend MTS 24×7 Global Monitoring System extending coverage of additional major events on ITV4. Identifying illegal internet streams for immediate takedown, Friend MTS will also facilitate the removal of links from primary search engines, it added.
The decision to renew builds on a partnership established in 2024. Combining proprietary, award-winning fingerprinting technology and AI-driven automated detection with a 24×7 operations team, Friend MTS aims to deliver comprehensive monitoring and enforcement, enabling ITV to maximise revenue and meet contractual obligations while protecting audiences from the consumer harms of piracy.
Akhila Khanna, distribution director at ITV, said, “Our partnership with Friend MTS has played an important role in our ongoing work to make piracy unsustainable and protect the value of our content for viewers, advertisers and rights holders. Extending this agreement is a natural next step as we continue to optimise broadcast and supercharge streaming.”
Shane McCarthy, CEO at Friend MTS, said, “ITV creates some of the UK’s most-watched content — protecting it is serious business. Over two years, we’ve worked side by side with their team to secure premium content across broadcast and streaming, and to make sure every advertiser impression lands where it should. We’re proud to be the partner helping them stay ahead of the piracy threat.”
