La Liga is taking its rivalry with the Premier League online by "starting a campaign to crack down on illegal streaming of games," according to the AP. Studies indicate that digital piracy robs Spanish football of nearly $186M each season. La Liga is using a proprietary tool to monitor the internet and has deployed a group of "online guards" to denounce illegal broadcasts of games. It also gets help from Google, Facebook and Twitter in "finding, and blocking, unauthorized streaming of its matches." The league's latest antipiracy campaign -- titled "When piracy appears, football disappears" -- was recently introduced in several countries where its games are broadcast. La Liga has also worked with several int'l antipiracy groups. La Liga Dir of Antipiracy & Audiovisual Content Melcior Soler said, "We are taking all the necessary measures to make sure that La Liga's content is commercialized legally." Bolstering revenue from TV rights has been a "priority for the Spanish league in its fight against the commercial domination of the Premier League," which has been getting the "most lucrative" TV deals in European football (AP, 4/8).
