British broadcaster Sky has won a court order allowing it to take down illegal streams of high-profile sport events.
The order, first reported by the Financial Times, is intended to make it harder for pirate streaming organisations to offer IPTV products that resemble traditional pay-television services.
The court ruling gives Sky an additional tool to combat piracy by tapping the services of a third-party technology outfit to identify sources of banned streaming via IP addresses. This information is then provided to internet service providers (ISPs) who are required to block access to these addresses or servers.
Predownloaded software capable of streaming channels from around the world has resulted in the rapid rise in usage of internet TV media boxes that facilitate illegal streaming in recent years.
But the latest ruling looks set to fight back.
The ruling is similar in nature to the Premier League’s previous four-season blocking order and is designed to protect a broader range of content encompassing its entire programming lineup. Under this new order, Sky gains the authority to take down individual pirate sites during specific times.
During the 2022/23 Premier League campaign the Premier League saw success with the blocking method by halting or remover roughly 600,000 illegal live streams.
Earlier this year, as Sky and the Premier League looked to kick out illegal streams; five men who were illegally streaming Premier League football matches were jailed. The gang, who were based in South London, sold cut-price £10-a-month subscriptions to a platform that allowed UK viewers to watch Premier League games that are not broadcast in the country owing to the ‘3pm blackout’ rule.
Their operation received more than £7m from 50,000 subscribers.
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