Background Report on Digital Piracy of Sporting Events

1Introduction

1.1Sporting piracy on the internet

In contrast, sport is rarely considered to suffer a similar problem – yet over the last few years, new and effective technologies have given internet users the world over the ability to watch live sporting events as they happen. Internet streaming technology allows users to watch sporting events regardless of where they or the event may be located and whether or not an official broadcast is available in their country. This poses a major issue for the leagues and organisations who own and control sports as the sale of broadcast rights represents a major source of revenue, enabling the sports to thrive and continue, from grassroots level to professional league.

The revenue gained from the exploitation of broadcast and other media rights is re-invested and re-distributed throughout the sporting organisations that are participating in this report. Income is provided to a range of initiatives: youth development, training, improving and refurbishing facilities, providing equipment, and increasing participation in sports in the wider community. Indeed, sport is almost unique in the amount of reinvestment in the wider sports which exist outside the specific organisation to which the broadcast rights accrue – so for instance, the Premier League helps fund lower leagues and community football within the English game; similarly, Cricket Australia’s ‘Getting Involved’ program helps develop community and schools cricket, coaches, and umpires. The sale of television rights represents 80% of the revenue of the English and Welsh Cricket Board (ECB), aiding a £30m development program in facilities and club cricket amidst continued initiatives to increase participation at grassroots level.

As an example, the cricket broadcast market in the United States – which is primarily based on the broadband platform for distribution – has recently shown an inclination to move away from cricket solely due to the availability and scale of unauthorised streams of matches on the internet. One of the two main broadcasters of the sport in the US now appears disinclined to bid for cricket rights. The effect of a single buyer on the value likely to be paid for cricket rights is obvious and could have a severe effect on grassroots cricket and participation levels.

Rights income also represents increasingly important economic returns. A 2006 European Commission White Paper ¹indicated that sport was responsible for 3.7% of GDP in the European Union while employing 5.4% of the labour force. The Sports Rights Owners Coalition (SROC) stated in a submission to the Euorpean Commission’s Content Online Consultation:

Investment in sport at every level – investing in talent development and in people and facilities at the grassroots, as well as at the elite levels – is dependent on achieving the proper returns due to the creators of sporting content. This is important not only to the sports themselves, but also to the wider economy, with sport making an increasing contribution to European GDP.

The range of sports available for viewers to consume through pirated means on the internet is extensive: ranging from football to floorball and basketball to boxing. Sports affected by internet piracy include those with a strong global audience such as football to those watched across the world but often not with the same kind of fervour as football (such as tennis) to those with intense regional followings (cricket) and to others predominantly centred on a particular country (such Australian Rules Football and American Football). In addition to live streaming piracy, post-event pirated downloads are also growing, both of full games and highlights.

The rise of internet-based methods for pirating sporting content (particularly of live broadcasts) and the flourishing number of those offering, consuming, and distributing unauthorised streams have convinced the sporting organisations who participated in this report that the phenomenon of internet piracy presents an extraordinarily difficult challenge to which they are ill-equipped to respond given the current legal and technical means at their disposal. For instance, some known infringers continue to operate from profit-making sites offering streams for a range of sports even following successful legal action and judicial orders prohibiting further operation.

The intention of this report is to describe the major issues sports organisations confront in the piracy of their events through the internet: including the range of games and events available, the process through which viewers access pirated content, notable trends, and ways in which rights holders currently attempt to protect their rights online. The report has been prepared on behalf of twenty-seven sporting leagues or organisations that represent twelve different sports from seven different countries. Twenty of the organisations are country-based while seven represent international organisations and leagues. The full list of participants is available in Appendix A.

The report has been compiled by the piracy intelligence department at Envisional, an internet consultancy with extensive experience in analysing the landscape of piracy for rights holders, and by NetResult, a monitoring and enforcement company who work with sporting rights holders to detect and take down unauthorised broadcasts of live sports events. NetResult provided all of the data related to live streaming which is found within the report.