While around a hundred rights holders mobilized to ask the European Commission to adopt a new law to institute the immediate cutting of pirated content broadcast live, the institution did not see fit to include binding legislative measures to combat IPTV. Explanations.
As we know, IPTV has become for several years now the target to shoot down rights holders. For good reason, the illegal broadcasting of live sporting and cultural events represents a significant shortfall for the holders, which amount to billions of euros. And unlike the piracy of works on torrent sites for example, IPTV is not subject to copyright protectionthe content broadcast live not being considered as works according to European legislation.
In order to strengthen the fight against IPTV sites, hundreds of rights holders among sports organizations such as UEFA, the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, but also cultural institutions such as the National Federation of Associations of British theater and dance, claimed in an open letter a new EU law allowing the immediate takedown of pirated live streams.
The rights holders demand the immediate shutdown of the IPTV sites detected
In their eyes, only new binding European legislation would effectively combat this type of piracy. “Any non-legislative instrument would be inadequate and insufficient to address the magnitude of the problem. Only regulation at European level could provide an appropriate response”.
Despite their call for the adoption of a legislative instrument, rights holders received a rather disappointing recommendation from the European Commission this week. In effect, it does not contain any legally binding measures. For the authors of the “End Live Piracy Now” campaign, they welcome the fact that their concerns have been included in the Commission’s 2023 work programme.
Also read: IPTV and illegal streaming – seven hackers sentenced to 9 years in prison
The Commission declines the proposal for the time being
However, the absence of “firm and decisive” measures to protect live broadcast content from piracy worries them the most. “Despite the clear and unambiguous call from 112 organizations from all cultural, creative and sporting sectors in the EU, and 107 Members of the European Parliament, the Commission has not included a legislative initiative to combat live content piracy in its 2023 work programme”.
The rights holders continue: “As the Live Content Coalition, representing organizers and distributors of live events across Europe, we welcome the reference to our concerns, but we are disappointed that these legitimate concerns are being addressed through a inadequate non-legally binding recommendation”.
Tools announced to fight against IPTV
According to the European Commission’s recommendation, the plan is not to go after hackers directly. Instead, the institution says it will follow up on the European Parliament’s resolution under Article 225 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU by proposing “tools to fight against illegal streaming of live events, in particular sporting events”. Unfortunately, we do not know any more for the moment on these famous tools promised by the Commission.
As a reminder, in France, some sports institutions have won victories against illegal IPTV and streaming sites. This is particularly the case of the Professional Football League which obtained the blocking by French ISPs of access to services provided by IPTV boxes and by pirate streaming sites. BeIN sports also obtained the blocking of several sites illegally broadcasting sports matches in January 2022.
Source: Torrent Freak