An online streaming service with the UK rights for La Liga and Serie A is warning that the whole broadcast industry is under threat from piracy.
Eleven Sports is in danger of closing its UK operations which it only launched in August after purchasing the broadcast rights to Spanish and Italian football.
In a statement last week the multi-national blamed ‘the challenges posed by rampant piracy’ which were hampering talks with Sky, Virgin and BT for them to show its content on their platforms.
The company, which is controlled by Leeds owner Andrea Radizzani, spoke out after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) announced on Wednesday that it was launching an investigation into piracy.
The probe came after the Qatari channel, beIN Sports, complained to the WTO that a pirate station 'owned' by Saudi Arabia, called beoutQ, was illegally stealing its coverage of La Liga, Serie A and the Premier League.
But what started as a Middle East spat quickly became a problem for the West after the rogue Saudi channel began broadcasting the pirated sports content across Europe, as well as stealing 10,000 major international movies and television series.
beoutQ set top boxes are sold with 10 sports channels, all showing stolen content including the Champions League, Wimbledon, Formula One, the Olympics and WWE - as well as the top European leagues.
It led to Marc Watson, CEO of Eleven Sports Group, warning: "Illegal streaming presents an existential threat to the broadcast industry as a whole. We welcome all attempts to deter content piracy in all its forms."
The row started last year when the Riyadh-based satellite, Arabsat, began broadcasting beoutQ after a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
FIFA and UEFA also criticised Arabsat, which is owned by the Saudi Arabian government, and threatened legal action.
Sky and the BBC also complained to the European Commission after discovering its content was being stolen.
Last month Qatar, which has born the brunt of the piracy because beIN Sports owns broadcast rights of all the top sports competitions across the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, took its complaint to the WTO.
It launched an investigation despite objections from Saudi Arabia, which refused to take part saying the move was a threat to its’ national security’.
Sophie Jordan, Executive Director of Legal Affairs at beIN MEDIA Group, said: "Quite simply, this is about the international rule of law – beoutQ has been committing a completely unprecedented and brazen theft of intellectual property over the past 18 months – affecting rights holders, broadcasters, movie studios and other stakeholders across the world of sports and entertainment.
"Those responsible for this Saudi-based pirate operation must be held to account. No one can be above the law."
beIN is also suing Saudi Arabia for $1bn in the only ever case of its kind relating to state-supported illegal piracy.
Kieron Sharp, CEO of FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft), said: "FACT works on behalf of its members and clients to protect their content. Illegal streaming is currently the greatest threat to broadcasters and rights-holders as it attacks the revenue base that allows films and TV programmes to be made and sports events to be staged.
"The enforcement and regulatory regime is strong in the UK and there is overt support from government in many guises to assist rights-holders and enforcement agencies to take action.
"Even then it requires a major contribution and commitment to a relentless process of varied and targeted actions to make inroads into the problem. The goal is to disrupt and prevent access and then to consider whether further actions such as criminal prosecution need to be taken against the perpetrators.
"Similar activities are taken across the globe with varying degrees of effort and impetus. Where little or no action is taken the prevalence of illegal streaming begins to dominate the broadcasting landscape. Co-operation between organisations, between the public and private sectors, and between countries is essential in the fight against illegal streaming and other forms of piracy."