The European Commission goes for IPTV. In our country, Telefónica and LaLiga have already taken several measures (some quite controversial) in their fight against the live online broadcast of sports content without a license, and now the community executive seems determined to join that effort with a ‘call for evidence ‘, a statement inviting interested parties to provide input to develop a package of measures and tools against this kind of practice.
Let us remember that, a month ago, an investigation (commissioned, yes, by an organization made up of DAZN, Bein, the Premier League, and other interested parties), revealed that the aforementioned IPTV services without a license generate more than 1,000 million euros a year in Europein most cases thanks to monthly or annual subscription models to high-quality broadcasts.
According to the lobby of rights holders, the average cost of license-free IPTV subscriptions in the EU is €5.22 per month, and its use has increased by 25% in the last 3 years.
Rights holders have long been calling for measures
This initiative does not come out of nowhere, of course: in October 2022, more than a hundred rights holders broadcasting sports content (including UEFA itself) jointly and publicly called on the EU to take action on this matter. Now, the Commission makes it clear that it has heard them and gives them (and other actors involved in the sector) until January 10 to present their proposals to the Commission.
“It is necessary to identify effective solutions, in accordance with EU law, to quickly remove or block access to unauthorized retransmissions, taking due account of the nature of the content.”
In fact, the main claim of this coalition of rights holders is to articulate legal changes that facilitate the immediate deactivation of unlicensed broadcasts once they are detected. For this, the intermediaries that refuse to block the indicated streamings should, they understand, assume the responsibility of said emissions.
The Commission’s communiqué raises the new ‘Digital Services Law’ as “a solid general framework” to “fight illegal online content” that “will speed up the processing of notifications sent to hosting service providers”, and focuses on “improving the use of pre-existing tools”, such as injunctions against infringers and intermediaries, plus dynamic ISP blocking orders (such as the one that allows Telefónica to order the blocking of IPs to other operators without the need to request a separate court order for each streaming detected).
Nevertheless, the European Commission is not closed to future legislative changes: “The Commission will establish a system to evaluate the effects of the recommendation on the effectiveness of legal remedies, based on the information collected […]. This will ensure proper follow-up, including proposing legislation if the desired results are not achieved.”
Via | torrentfreak
The European Commission goes for IPTV. In our country, Telefónica and LaLiga have already taken several measures (some quite controversial) in their fight against the live online broadcast of sports content without a license, and now the community executive seems determined to join that effort with a ‘call for evidence ‘, a statement inviting interested parties to provide input to develop a package of measures and tools against this kind of practice.
Let us remember that, a month ago, an investigation (commissioned, yes, by an organization made up of DAZN, Bein, the Premier League, and other interested parties), revealed that the aforementioned IPTV services without a license generate more than 1,000 million euros a year in Europein most cases thanks to monthly or annual subscription models to high-quality broadcasts.
According to the lobby of rights holders, the average cost of license-free IPTV subscriptions in the EU is €5.22 per month, and its use has increased by 25% in the last 3 years.
Rights holders have long been calling for measures
This initiative does not come out of nowhere, of course: in October 2022, more than a hundred rights holders broadcasting sports content (including UEFA itself) jointly and publicly called on the EU to take action on this matter. Now, the Commission makes it clear that it has heard them and gives them (and other actors involved in the sector) until January 10 to present their proposals to the Commission.
“It is necessary to identify effective solutions, in accordance with EU law, to quickly remove or block access to unauthorized retransmissions, taking due account of the nature of the content.”
In fact, the main claim of this coalition of rights holders is to articulate legal changes that facilitate the immediate deactivation of unlicensed broadcasts once they are detected. For this, the intermediaries that refuse to block the indicated streamings should, they understand, assume the responsibility of said emissions.
The Commission’s communiqué raises the new ‘Digital Services Law’ as “a solid general framework” to “fight illegal online content” that “will speed up the processing of notifications sent to hosting service providers”, and focuses on “improving the use of pre-existing tools”, such as injunctions against infringers and intermediaries, plus dynamic ISP blocking orders (such as the one that allows Telefónica to order the blocking of IPs to other operators without the need to request a separate court order for each streaming detected).
Nevertheless, the European Commission is not closed to future legislative changes: “The Commission will establish a system to evaluate the effects of the recommendation on the effectiveness of legal remedies, based on the information collected […]. This will ensure proper follow-up, including proposing legislation if the desired results are not achieved.”
Via | torrentfreak