Third of fans illegally view Premier League matches as authorities look to crack down on unofficial streams A BBC survey has revealed a third of Premier League fans regularly stream action Federation against Copyright Theft (FACT) are trying to crack down on streams The Premier League is also seeking to protect the value of its £5.136bn TV deal A third of Premier League football fans regularly stream illegal coverage of live matches. A survey commissioned by BBC Radio 5 Live has also revealed that many of those supporters do not know it is now against the law to use unofficial streams, with younger fans the biggest offenders. Kieron Sharp, director general of the Federation against Copyright Theft (FACT), said: 'People need to be aware that this is no longer a grey area, in fact it is very black and white. please log in to view this image +2 According to a new survey, a third of Premier League fans regularly stream illegal coverage 'If you are accessing content for free such as sport, TV and films for which you'd normally need a subscription, or go to the cinema, or buy a DVD, this is illegal. 'The recent ruling by the EU Court of Justice has clarified that both selling a device pre-configured to access copyrighted material and watching content via these devices without a legitimate subscription are breaking the law. 'As the old saying goes, if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is.' The Premier League is seeking to protect the value of its TV deal, after Sky and BT Sport paid a record £5.136 billion for rights to show live matches for three seasons. Last season saw the biggest drop in live Premier League viewing figures for seven years. lower prices. stop ripping off fans. Hopefully. soon, half will watch illegal streams The Death of Football is coming - Big business has bought the peoples game and is now trying to sell it back to them and calling them thieves at the same time.The game is dying - it is fixed, ref's are not what people pay to see, no one wants to see a game decided by an incompetent idiot.
They've got no chance. Until a tv deal is agreed where every fan can see their own team play every game they'll never stop it and can't stop it.
Exactly. They are ignoring the fact that there's no decent legal alternative. My brother when he lived in Canada could watch every Sunderland game on cable for a reasonable price. In the UK I only have the option to pay Sky a fortune to watch about two games a season. Until they offer a reasonable alternative they can't blame people for finding a way to get what they want.
Yep. I'll pay for a good reliable stream, no issues with that. But without illegal streams I can't see us play every game. Are folk just not going watch and choose big dumb Benno waffling out the cliches? Of course not, we're going to watch the game. Why should people who aren't fans be allowed to see every game? While the real fans can't without spending 1000s of pounds in tickets travel and accommodation. It's not fair so everybody does right robbing the streams imo.
Wonder how this will impact on future tv deals? Can't see Sky/Bt continuing to increase by stupid amounts if they keep losing a lot of custom. I can the see the next one being slightly more again followed by a levelling out/drop. Anyone knows when the next contract starts? Bidding is normally a year or 2 before isn't it?
I think you'll find that there are far fewer streams in the Championship. And towards the back end of last season most UK ISP's conspired to block sports channels being streamed. The whole of Modpro seemed to be off line when games were on for a few weekends.
Catch up with the real world. Championship have signed a world wide tv deal. Every match in the Championship is televised this season. They need a court order to block streaming sites. But they're away and running within an hour of being closed on a fresh url. Wiziwig is still going strong
Don't know why Sky/Virgin/BT don't offer a season ticket so that fans can watch their team throughout the season????
I tried the real world of streaming last season and didn't find it that brilliant in all honesty. Kodi I found notoriously unreliable. Tvaddons has now closed down, Exodus may be about to close because the lawyers are getting tough. Modpro was better - though poor picture and small selection of games was limiting. Now the ISP's are acting on masse, good luck with streaming. I've got a firestick but I don't hold much hope of live games being as easy as they were. Maybe the Championship will be more active for streaming. But if it's as good as the standard of refereeing, you might be disappointed.
Absolutely this. If I could pay to legally stream all SAFC games then I would - simple as that. We have the technology to do it so why try to stop people instead of trying to create revenue from it? Completely clueless
Yeah well, the championship didn't have this deal in place last season did it? Android is **** for streaming btw. Good old windows. You can do anything on a proper computer you can even turn it into an android. ISP's can't act without a court order btw. Like I said. Wiziwig has been shut down and it's still going strong despite repeated attempts to shut them down. The are many many others as ISP can only get a court order on specific url at a time and not the companies themselves. There's so many streaming sites out there that will cover them, even more if you use a VPN to put yourself in another country to access streams. Ultimately, if a match is being filmed for tv then there's streams. Every single Championship match this season is being televised abroad. So there will be streams for them. Sites will be closed throughout the season just like every season, and the alternative sites will be in place in hours of the old one closing. It's can't be stopped. It's like Prohibition, so long as there's supply and demand it will fail every time.
Same here. But if some prick sat in another country can sit and watch it not having heard of the teams playing then I'm taking it for free. **** em.
It just sums up the concerns of those at the top of the game. The Premier League and FA are hilariously out of touch, they can't control this and are instead trying to make people feel bad and scare them into stopping. Football is at the sharp end of capitalism, the money being thrown around is insane and immoral but justifiable on the basis that people are worth what the market says they are worth. Why should fans care if a club only has £50m to spend rather than £100? It gets passed down to us as a way of thinking (putting the figures £100m in gold in newspapers as though we should be happy or impressed that a player costs this much), I think most fans would be happy to see the Premiership have less money floating around and actually pay reasonable money for things. They rinse the fans and then complain the fans aren't happy/ attending/ playing by the rules. I live in hope that in my lifetime it all goes bust and the clubs get taken over by fan consortiums. Honestly, I'd prefer to see a higher local representation in my club and less concern over spending £xxx millions on someone to represent my hometown. In what world does my club actually represent me in the slightest?
The BBC hehe who show next to nowt of football and ITV, they bull Wimbledon up though a back garden game.
Going against the grain here. Personally hope this never happens as there will be grounds half full all over the country. Maybe Sky need to be told they can show each team a maximum of 10 times through the season to make it fairer to every team in the premiership. I would be furious to be a fan of one of the top teams as you would very rarely get to see a game at 3pm on a Saturday something I love. Anyway I know they will continue to favour the big boys and I take the points on board about people in other countries being able to watch every game but honestly I don't know what the answer is. I disagree about being able to buy television season tickets as I think grounds will empty quickly and there's nothing more I enjoy than going to the match which in my opinion would not be the same if there were 15 - 20 thousand there every week.
I'd buy an away game season pass from the club or Sky or whoever in a blink. There's your solution you've cameras at the game anyway. ****ing idiots.
