The new focus for football rights holders is IPTV. This technology is used benignly for watching television over the Internet; But in recent years, it has become the preferred means of accessing illegal broadcasts of films, series and football matches.
So far, the biggest initiative against these pirate services is that of Italy, where the government created the so-called “Shield against Piracy” last summer with an “express” law; Since then, AGCOM, the largest telecommunications regulator, has focused on creating a system that allows rights holders order the blocking of websites in just 30 minutes
The system is already in place, and although its success is questionable and many cases of collateral damage have been reported, such as innocent web pages being blocked by the system, it is undeniable that it has had a great impact on the Internet , and that in Europe is already proposing the implementation of something similar.
Mediaset blocks pirated pages
During, Mediaset decided not to wait and joined Piracy Shield start blocking IPTV pages and services offering access to pirated football, according to information published in BroadbandTVNews.
The Italian company did not participate in the blockade using Piracy Shield. Until now, the task of ordering the blocking of illegally broadcast matches fell to Serie A, the Italian football league, which is also the author of the system adopted by the government body.
Mediaset joined because has the rights to cover the Coppa Italia, the equivalent of the Spanish Copa del Rey in Italy and which organized its first semi-final matches last April. This increased fans’ interest in finding pirate streaming to watch matches, and this was an opportunity for Mediaset to start blocking them.
Specific, Mediaset ordered the blocking of 67 web pages and IPTV servers that they would broadcast the matches live. According to Italian law, these blocks do not need the approval of a judge, but only the word of the rights holders; In addition, operators are obliged to block the indicated content within 30 minutes, in order to prevent pirates from being able to watch the entire match.
Mediaset claims that the high number of pirated services blocked “demonstrates the effectiveness of the measures taken” and promises to fight against this “criminal phenomenon” which “endangers the whole of sport”.
