In order not to deprive residents of English football championship matches, Russian pirates are broadcasting them illegally while providing commentary and analysis graphics.
The advantage of loving soccer, is that there is always a championship somewhere for you to watch a match. Beyond global competitions like the European or World Cup, we think of the national leagues which exist in many countries: France has its League 1Spain La LigaGermany BundesligaItaly Serie A and England Premier Leagueto name only the best known.
Obtaining the right to broadcast these is expensive, even very expensive. In Russia, the Premier League signed a deal worth around 50 million euros, but following the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it was declared void by the league which publicly condemned the military action. We suspect: it didn’t take long for the pirates to take over so that residents still benefit from the meetings. This is particularly the case of Sportscastwhich does it by adding a personal touch.
A group of Russian hackers broadcast the Premier League by replacing the commentators with their own
Sportcast has been illegally broadcasting sports content since 2016 through its own website and the Russian social network VK. On the latter, hackers archive Premier League matches so that they can be viewed at any time. But what’s striking when you launch one is that comments are in Russian. And for good reason : they are carried out by members of the pirate group. Even the infographics used to analyze the match are redone in the language of the country.
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These commentators may receive donations for their work and some use the experience gained to make a career out of it. One of them landed an internship on the Match TV channel where he comments on Serie A, for example. Sportcast does not fear prosecution from the Premier League, despite its reputation for fiercely defending its rights. The group’s leader Anton Kuzmichev believes that since the agreement with Russia has expired, no one has the rights to broadcast matches in the country, and therefore no one can take legal action. He is also aware that once the legal offer returns, he will have to stop his activities.
Source: TorrentFreak