The fight to eradicate football piracy has moved a step closer, as the Reddit page where users go to post links to live football matches has been shut down.
After numerous warnings from Reddit over copyright infringement, something that is in breach of Reddit’s user policy, the page which had accrued 425,000 subscribers was taken down by the site.
A statement from the R/soccerstreams’ moderator detailed: “We’ve officially reached critical mass. I regret to inform you all that a few days ago the Reddit Admins got in touch with us about an impeding ban of this subreddit if changes weren’t made.
“The only way to save it, from our perspective, was to cease all user-related activity here. Due to this, and to save the history behind this subreddit over the years, r/soccerstreams will now serve as a home base for the official Soccer Streams mod team.”
The news comes as the Premier League continues to strengthen its long standing against piracy, in order to maintain the renowned value of its rights. And although the page directed its users to a temporary alternative, the shutting of the page shows a real intent in the battle against illegal sports streaming.
Furthermore, the burden of illegal streaming is not solely felt from football, Matchroom Boxing Promotions vehemently pursued rights to protection against illegal live streams prior to Anthony Joshua’s last title defence against Alexander Povetkin.
Commenting at the time, group CEO of Matchroom Sport, Steve Dawson, emphasised: “This blocking order is a game-changer in our efforts to tackle piracy of our PPV [pay-per-view] and non PPV boxing events. It will allow us to quickly and effectively block and disrupt illegal broadcasts of our shows.
“The protection of the copyright in broadcasts of our events is hugely important to us and we are pleased that the Court has recognised this with the granting of this blocking order.”
