Down the Stream: Premier League Win Battle to Ban Illegal Broadcasting of Live Matches
Persons who use illegal streams to view football matches in the UK could find things rather difficult from next month, with the Premier League being granted a High Court order to clamp down on the unauthorised broadcasting of their matches for the upcoming 2017/18 season, per BBC.
The blocking order will see to it that UK Internet Service Providers prohibit access to illegal streams online, as well as arm the league to take up a stance against the illicit sales of devices such as IPTV and Kodi Boxes.
This isn't very new, however, as a similar order saw over 5,000 IP addresses, belonging to individuals streaming PL content, blocked during the last two months of the 2016/17 season.
The Premier League are in the process of gearing up for their biggest copyright protection battle, and recent endeavours have left a variety of apps and add-ons shut down, with the help of the law.
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"This blocking order is a game-changer in our efforts to tackle the supply and use of illicit streams of our content," said Kevin Plumb, the Premier League's Director of Legal Services.
"It will allow us to quickly and effectively block and disrupt the illegal broadcast of Premier League football via any means, including so called 'pre-loaded Kodi boxes'.
"The protection of our copyright, and the investment made by our broadcast partners, is hugely important to the Premier League and the future health of English football."
Sky and BT Sport currently hold the live broadcasting rights for Premier League football in the UK, having paid £5.136bn for a three year deal.
Viewers, though, are quite dissatisfied with the actual volume of matches available to them via the aforementioned companies, especially when prices are taken into consideration.
