If the Home Nations submit a bid to host the 2030 World Cup, the government "must not bow to pressure" from FIFA and amend its laws "protecting the tournament's TV rights from being sold to the highest bidder," Parliament will be told on Wednesday, according to Martha Kelner of the London GUARDIAN. Just hours before England takes on Croatia in the World Cup semifinal, there will be "an adjournment debate in parliament to discuss listed sporting events," those protected for free-to-air TV. After the "doomed bid" for the 2018 World Cup, it emerged that the government had indicated it was "prepared to kowtow" to FIFA and "pledge there would be no restrictions on TV coverage of the tournament." This was despite an inquiry led by former FA Exec Dir David Davies into listed events, which "recommended the entire World Cup be protected by legislation for free-to-air broadcasting" (GUARDIAN, 7/10).
ONLINE PIRATES: In London, Natasha Bernal reported during the World Cup in Brazil, "millions of people took to piracy websites to tune in." Four years later, social media sites "have become the platform of choice for online piracy." More than 5.4 million social media users have "tried to watch World Cup 2018 matches illegally so far," digital platform security company Irdeto claimed. The security firm, which works for broadcasters in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to stop online piracy during the World Cup, said that it has "already detected almost 6,000 illegal streams on social media services." Unlike four years ago, social networks are now "well set up for live video." Facebook launched live streaming in '15, while Twitter's service "went mainstream" at the end of '16. Irdeto's Rory O'Connor said that 80% of all piracy infringements during this World Cup "were on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter" (TELEGRAPH, 7/10).
