Live sports streaming service DAZN and broadcaster beIN have joined forces to create a global task force aimed at tackling the growing problem of sports piracy which is estimated to cost the industry tens of billions of dollars every year.
The group will work to identify and target sports piracy operations, collaborating with law enforcement agencies and organizations like Interpol and Europl to pursue enforcement actions and shut them down.
Illegal streaming of major sports events, such as the world boxing championships and the UEFA Champions League final, is a significant problem, and it is getting worse as more international online services find ways around local broadcasting rules. A recent study by Synamedia showed that tackling global sports piracy could lead to an additional $28 billion in annual revenue for the industry.
The task force will be run by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a Los Angeles-based anti-piracy coalition. Working with beIN, ACE has already busted a few sports rings in countries such as Morocco, reported Financial Times.
“Intellectual property theft of live sports content is an industry issue, negatively impacting all sports and sports fans and needs a global concerted effort to meaningfully tackle it,” said Shay Segev, DAZN’s chief executive.
Ed McCarthy, the Chief Operations Officer of DAZN, said that the task force would work to pursue criminal gangs who are damaging sports at all levels, often using fans’ credit cards and data for illegal purposes.
As per a report by the Global Innovation Policy Center, overall piracy content could cost as much as $71 billion annually.
ACE was launched in 2017, with the aim to counter piracy and has now over 30 major global entertainment companies and film studios joining the alliance.
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