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The Premier League is seeking a court order to block a streaming site from showing games illegally, the BBC reports.
Each UK Internet service provider (ISP) has received a letter from footie’s top dogs telling them about the court order. They were asked to respond by yesterday (Friday) if they had any objections. Reportedly, none did. Start the engines, looks like we’re heading to court.
The streaming site in question is called frontrow1.eu, and is apparently very popular with footie fans who aren’t keen on paying to watch. If the case goes to court, and it looks like it will, it’ll be the first non-music-related site block in the UK.
Previously, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has succeeded in blocking piracy sites — such as the Pirate Bay — here in the UK. But it hasn’t had much effect on piracy levels, as people just head to one of the million similar sites or find the Pirate Bay mirrored elsewhere.
None of the ISPs would comment on the Premier League’s action to the BBC, but said that they wouldn’t block sites “voluntarily”.
BT is in a particularly interesting position. It’s just shelled out a whopping £246 million for the rights to show Premier League games. It’s part of a huge sports push for BT, which bought a bunch of ESPN channels earlier in the year. It’ll roll these into its own sports service which should launch this summer.
Sky and BT have recently embarked on a bitter fight to snaffle rights for the best live matches.
Sky has previously taken a more laissez-faire approach to litigating against piracy sites, whereas BT tends to go in all guns blazing.
Should ISPs block certain sites from streaming matches and films? Or is it a waste of time? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.
