The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading coalition dedicated to protecting the legal ecosystem for creative content, announced Friday the successful shutdown of a major sports piracy operation in Morocco.
Before they were shut down on November 11, the streaming websites carried live soccer matches free of charge, a statement said.
The domains livekoora.online and yalla-shoot-new.tv drew 20.6mn monthly visits in October 2022.
The piracy operation primarily drew content from international sports broadcaster beIN Sports, which joined the ACE in April and supported the successful action in Morocco.
The shutdown of a major sports piracy ring took place just nine days before the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is scheduled to start tomorrow (Sunday), with FIFA anticipating an audience of 5bn viewers.
“The successful ACE action in Morocco is a direct result of our enhanced focus on the growing threat that live sports piracy poses to consumers, sports leagues and their fans,” said Jan van Voorn, executive vice-president and global content protection chief for the Motion Picture Association and head of the ACE.
“Working with our member beIN Sports, we have sent a clear message to piracy operators around the world, including anyone planning to steal content from the upcoming World Cup games, that we will find you and shut you down,” he said.
The ACE has dramatically enhanced its focus this year on the growing threat large-scale piracy operations pose to live sports broadcasters.
According to a recent study from Synamedia/Ampere, addressing global sports piracy could amount to an additional $28bn of annual revenue for the industry.
The ACE’s comprehensive approach to reducing piracy, which includes criminal referrals, litigation, and direct communications among other tactics, has positioned the coalition and its partners to move swiftly into reducing piracy of live sports broadcasts globally, the statement added.
