Pirated live broadcasts grow as a threat to sports business

With the World Cup well under way, the global audience is tuning in to follow their favourite nation’s finest. However, an increasing fraction of that audience is tuning in to a pirated stream rather than the official broadcast.

More of a tennis type of guy/gal? Wimbledon’s official site offers the possibility to buy a digital “day pass”, allowing one to watch the matches online that day, for the rather significant sum of 6,50 pond (8 euros). Why, however, pay that fee when the same content can be viewed for free in a high quality pirated online stream?

Sports piracy is nothing new, to be sure. Watching the game with an illegal satellite hook up or an un-paid for cable connection has happened for decades. However, as with music, games and movies before, Internet put the piracy problem on a completely different scale.

The quality of pirated live sports coverage, once known for their frequent interrupts, and poor images, has increased to a level that is hardly distinguishable from the official broadcasts. Furthermore, it has become increasingly easy to find sites that offer free streaming sports coverage. Especially football (the soccer variety) is heavily pirated. The British and Spanish premier leagues are the primary targets, despite the relentless best efforts of regulators and enforcers.

With the equally relentless and high quality pirated alternatives that allow people to watch their heroes’ performance for free, the imperative to the sports businesses to find solutions and win back their audience is clear.

And as with the ‘traditionally’ pirated media, there is more at stake than just the fat profits of anonymous big corporations. Income from broadcasting licences provide sports leagues with the capital to ensure that players and coaches can be paid and tournaments are organised.

source: The Guardian