Martin Shaw wrote:Sedgwick wrote:Read the edit, this is the industry I work in, Not all streams are illegal yet.
This looks pretty clear to me, but perhaps you are going to tell me it is wrong:
"In April, a ruling by the European Court of Justice put pirated streams on the same legal footing as copyright-infringing downloads, making it illegal to watch them.
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.
"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."
from
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40483486
You're telling someone who has worked in this industry for 20 years and continues to work in it now that they are wrong because you've read a BBC article...... Its so far mostly talk to scare people... Several recent and I mean very recent cases of broadcasters trying prosecute the big online streamers in Europe have led to nothing as certain laws are not fully in place and do no apply to certain locations. Streams coming out of parts of Europe and the USA are currently fine. If you're creating or watching a stream of a UK channel in the UK like Sky, BT and even Eurosport that is illegal (but how many people have been prosecuted??) where as at this moment in time Bein sports, eurosport, NBC sports streams are not affected and if you go on sites like soccer streams they are populated mostly by streams of these channels.
Broadcasters are trying to catch up with piracy, and services like the Kodi boxes and IPTV sticks are being shut down, people have been prosecuted but as of yet they're not getting as far with the online streamers as the process finding and proving it are expensive and time consuming. Its a similar thing to companies like Adobe doing absolutely nothing about people torrenting their software for free, they are actually benefitting from it as its allowing people to learn their products and end up buying them in the long run.
Personally I think with football broadcast rights going to Facebook and Amazon, and even Netflix who are now getting involved, over the next few years where matches will be free to all with accounts on their sites, broadcasters won't have the resources to clamp down and prosecute the thousands and thousands of people watching streams, they don't really at the minute. Broadcast is changing and It won't be long before you're not watching and paying over the odds for Sky and BT, the future of football isn't on that platform and thats why steams are thriving.
When you've sat in multiple meetings about streaming and broadcast rights with the worlds top broadcasters ill listen.