The Premier League has successfully prosecuted a criminal group involved in the illegal streaming of Premier League match content. The Premier League took this action to protect what it describes as “some of the world’s most valuable content”.

In this article, we examine why this prosecution is significant for the enforcement of broadcasters’ intellectual property rights and what this could mean for providers going forward. 

Background

5 members of the illegal streaming group known as “Flawless TV” were prosecuted for their involvement in the unlicensed streaming of premier league matches to over 50,000 subscribers. The operation was said to have made over £7,000,000 between 2016 and 2021 through the offering of premier league matches to customers for a £10 a month subscription.

The gang took advantage of the rising prices from broadcasters of matches, as well as the Saturday 3pm embargo on broadcasting live matches, to offer match broadcasts to customers through using the streams provided by broadcasters outside of the UK and then illegally re-distributing these for a fee.

The gang was sentenced to a combined 30 years for a variety of offences, including contempt of court and money laundering, but most notably from the Premier League’s perspective, conspiracy to defraud. This is a common law offence whereby an individual makes an agreement to “deprive a person dishonestly of something which is his or to which he is or would be or might be entitled” or “by dishonesty to injure some proprietary right”, which in this instance, would be the Premier League’s rights to its match content.

The Rise in Illegal Streaming 

The use of illegal streaming services by football fans is not a new phenomenon and has been prevalent in the industry for decades. Whilst organisations have had some success in working with internet providers to remove their proprietary content, historically there have been very few active prosecutions in respect of the operators of streaming sites of this nature. This may have been due to difficulties enforcing rights in this space, or it may have simply been that the Premier League’s broadcasting rights were so profitable that the risk of these operators detracting from their services seemed insignificant in comparison to the sums involved, and to pursue prosecution was disproportionate to the time and cost involved in doing so.

However, in recent years the distribution of the Premier League’s broadcasting rights has been increasingly fragmented, with the rights to broadcast these matches now split across multiple providers, including BT Sport, Sky Sports and Amazon Prime. In addition, the value of those broadcasting rights has diminished slightly, and whilst the Premier League’s latest agreement with these distributors still equated to £4.7 billion, this actually represented a 10% drop in value from the previous agreement, and was rolled over in 2021 for another 4 year period with no increase in price.

Subsequently, the rise in illegal streaming sites has become a significant issue for the Premier League. The increase in the number and popularity of these sites has been inversely proportional to the fragmentation of the Premier League’s licensing to multiple broadcasters, with customers who are unwilling to purchase subscriptions across all multiple providers turning to illicit streaming sites to view matchday content. Similarly, the historic 3pm broadcasting blackout enforced by UEFA, which prohibits the broadcasting of Premier League matches between 14:45 and 17:15 on Saturdays to encourage fans to attend live games, can be circumvented by streaming sites who broadcast these games through re-distributing the broadcast of matches by international broadcasters who are permitted to broadcast these games in countries outside the UK. 

Enforcement of Premier League Rights

The Premier League currently enforces its rights through the Federation Against Copyright Theft (“FACT”), an organisation which partners with brands and law enforcement to investigate and protect the content and copyright of its customers. FACT will gather intelligence on those infringing the rights of its customers and then pass this to law enforcement to prosecute these individuals.

Given the rise in the number illegal streaming services in recent years, the Premier League has faced significant pressure from broadcasters over the enforcement of the Premier League’s rights to this content, with broadcasters growing concerned that the sums they have paid to allow distribution of this content is diminished where the Premier League does not enforce its IP rights against illegal streaming providers.

Following the prosecution itself, the Premier League General Counsel, Kevin Plumb, noted “the Premier League’s substantial financial contribution to the entire football pyramid is made possible through the ability to sell our broadcast rights. We are pleased that through rulings such as this, the courts continue to show that they recognise the importance of safeguarding the Premier League’s rights. We will continue to protect our rights and our fans by investigating and prosecuting illegal operators at all levels”.

As part of the investigation, details of those subscribing to the illegal streaming services were also obtained, but it remains to be seen as to whether the Premier League will take any action against the individual customers involved.

If you would like any further information, please contact David Varney or another member of our Digital Media team.