TV piracy: Lawsuits filed against net show swappers

Continuing its war on internet file-swapping sites, the Motion Picture Association of America has announced it has filed lawsuits against a half-dozen hubs for TV show trading.

The trade association said piracy of TV programming is growing quickly online, and that shows are as important to protect as big-budget films. This is the first legal action from the group that has focused most heavily on TV content.

CEO of MPAA, Dan Glickman, said in a statement: "Every television series depends on other markets [such as] syndication and international sales to earn back the enormous investment required to produce the comedies and dramas we all enjoy. Those markets are substantially hurt when that content is stolen."

The latest round of suits retains a focus on BitTorrent technology, which has been widely used online to distribute movies and films.

The suits are focused on the sites that serve as traffic directors for BitTorrent swaps, rather than on individual computer users uploading and downloading content. The MPAA has also sued individuals but has not said how many people have been targeted.

The six sites sued include Bragginrights, Btefnet, CDDVDHeaven, Scifi-Classics, ShunTV and Zonatracker.

John Borland writes for CNET News.com