The Premier League "won another blocking order to shut down pirate streams" of football matches during the '18-19 season, according to Joe Pinkstone of the London DAILY MAIL. The blocking order was granted by the UK High Court "in an effort to stop unauthorised streams distributing coverage of the games across the web." An earlier iteration of the court order, which was branded "game-changing" at the time, was handed out to the Premier League in '17. In total, about 200,000 illegal streams were blocked last season. The High Court order allows broadcasters including Sky, BT Sport and Virgin Media to "block and disrupt servers that host illegal streams" of Premier League matches. Previously, internet companies "had to target the websites hosting the streams." However, the blocking orders "allow firms to stop the signal at the server level -- killing the feed at its source." Illicit streams are "tracked using a variety of methods," including digital watermarks embedded in the original video to "trace any streams being shared for free, as well as known databases of popular pirate websites and apps for mobile devices and Kodi" (DAILY MAIL, 7/20).
F1 STREAMS: In London, Anthony Cuthbertson reported a major piracy operation that has been live streaming Formula 1 grand prix races caused FIA to "enter a dispute over broadcasting rights." FIA has "become embroiled in the dispute surrounding the broadcasting rights," which appears to have been taking place since at least June. FIA said, "It has come to our attention that certain Formula 1 content from the 2018 FIA Formula One Championship has been illegally transmitted by the channel known as BeoutQ operating primarily within the MENA region" (INDEPENDENT, 7/22).
