KEEPING PIRATES OFF THE PITCH
Content piracy is rife, especially in live sports. How can federations and broadcasters continue to stay one step ahead of the big steal?
remium video production is complex, expensive and typically involves media rights deals for sports and other live
content. If content is not protected in its delivery chain to the viewer, with proper authorisation and payment, stakeholders involved in the production find themselves facing uncontrollable leakage and potentially hefty financial loss through piracy. Parks Associates estimates that, by the end of 2027, there will be a cumulative loss to piracy of $113 billion for streaming video providers serving US consumers. The forecast revealed piracy rates for US streaming services in film and television programming are expected to rise from 22% in 2022 to 24.5% in 2027. As technology and internet connectivity have advanced, so too has piracy in the sports arena. Illegal streaming websites and unlicensed broadcasts have mushroomed,
Words by Fergal Ringrose
at TelevisaUnivision. At the time, we were dealing with as many as ten unique hosting sites that were propagating infringing content. “By 2014, we saw as many as 100 different hosting sites – some of them compliant and some extremely non-compliant,” he told a recent SportsPro Media conference session. “But we know how this story goes: these sites keep popping up because pirates keep looking for the path of least resistance. And for Qatar 2022 we saw as many as 350 unique hosting sites, which really shows that the terrain is very fragmented in terms of people we are enforcing
seemingly offering fans free access to live games and highlights. Piracy of course undermines revenue streams for leagues and clubs, including broadcasting rights deals, sponsorship agreements and merchandising – impacting player salaries, academy team development and infrastructure investment. TRACKING A MOVING TARGET Alvaro Jeanneau, the senior director of media rights management at New York and Mexico-based broadcaster TelevisaUnivision, says: “The first time we ever streamed sports content on digital was the 2010 Fifa World Cup
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