A major crackdown on illegal live sports streaming has resulted in the closure of the world’s largest platform for such activities, as announced by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE). Working in collaboration with Egyptian law enforcement, ACE successfully shut down Streameast, a website that had garnered over 1.6 billion visits in the past year. Streameast facilitated access to pirated streams of popular sports events like Premier League football, Formula One races, and Major League Baseball games.
ACE’s chairman, Charles Rivkin, hailed the operation as a significant milestone in combating digital piracy, emphasizing the positive impact on sports leagues, entertainment companies, and global fans. This action follows a previous report highlighting the widespread occurrence of illegal sports streaming on a large scale. The sports broadcasting industry is substantial, with media rights exceeding $60 billion (£44 billion) worldwide last year.
Due to the escalating costs of broadcasting rights passed on to consumers and the necessity to subscribe to multiple platforms for different matches, some fans have turned to unauthorized streams through unreliable sources. ACE disclosed that traffic to Streameast predominantly originated from countries like the UK, US, Canada, Philippines, and Germany.
Following the crackdown, two individuals were apprehended in El-Sheikh Zaid near Cairo on suspicion of copyright infringement. Authorities seized laptops, smartphones, cash, credit cards, and uncovered connections to a UAE-based shell company allegedly involved in laundering £4.9 million of advertising revenue and £150,000 in cryptocurrency since 2010.
Ed McCarthy, the COO of DAZN Group, applauded the dismantling of Streameast, highlighting the detrimental impact it had on the sports industry and fans globally. Visitors attempting to access Streameast platforms will now be redirected to an ACE webpage suggesting legitimate viewing options.
Entertainment analyst Ben Woods from Midia Research acknowledged the shutdown’s significance for broadcasters but expressed skepticism about its long-term effectiveness in combating live sports piracy. He noted that the high costs associated with legal sports viewing, coupled with the trend of free content on social media, continue to drive illegal streaming activities. Woods emphasized that addressing the accessibility of live sports content is imperative to mitigate piracy challenges faced by major sports leagues.