BeIN Sports France hails anti-piracy court ruling

Pay TV outfit beIN Sports France has claimed a significant victory in its fight against illegal theft of content with a court decision requesting the blocking of fraudulent websites previously identified by the channel.

As part of the ruling by the Paris Court of Justice and in compliance with France’s new Article L. 333-10 of the Sports Code, ISPs have moved to block offending sites and addresses.

New French media regulator Arcom will now have the power to request ISPs to block any new site that illegally retransmits live. This measure aims to significantly reduce the volume of fraudulent signals.

beIN Sports France is currently broadcasting the extensively pirated TotalEnergy Africa Cup of Nations.

The Paris ruling follows a similar ruling in Spain earlier this month where Telefónica’s streaming service Movistar+ and LaLiga secured a Spanish court judgement that they say will oblige internet service providers to take immediate action to block pirate streaming sites.

Caroline Guenneteau

As a result of the ruling, LaLiga and Movistar+ will have the right to request the blocking of new domains each week within a given time period without the need to secure an additional specific court ruling. The pair said that this would enable them to act with the speed required to fight agile and dynamic pirate websites.

“beIN Sports welcomes the speed of the procedure and the diligence with which the blocking measures were put in place. This first ever court decision is the culmination of years of work and fight against piracy led by beIN Media Group and beIN Sports France, in order to protect the intellectual property of broadcasters and rights holders, and to preserve the sports ecosystem. It is a concrete sign of the entry into force of the new legal mechanism aimed at simplifying and accelerating the blocking and inaccessibility of fraudulent sites and/or addresses broadcasting illegal content via streaming or IPTV,” said Caroline Guenneteau, deputy general secretary of beIN Media Group.

“This major step in the history of the fight against piracy marks a symbolic turning point and gives a strong signal to all the players concerned. The objective from now on will be to determine, in consultation with all the stakeholders and Arcom, the modalities that will allow us to optimise, in the coming weeks, the timeframe for the application of blocking measures for identified sites and possible mirror sites.”