The English Premier League, the country’s top football division, has requested that a number of its overseas broadcast partners limit the number of games they show as it seeks to combat piracy of its rights in the UK, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper said that pay-television broadcasters Al Jazeera Sport and Fox Sports Italia are amongst the companies that have been asked to broadcast only one match on a Saturday at 3pm in the UK, when the majority of games in the Premier League are played.
“We have become aware that live broadcasts of Premier League football intended for certain overseas territories are, in a small number of cases, being re-transmitted in the UK,” the Premier League said. “We are working with some of our international broadcast partners to address this.”
In July, Al Jazeera acquired the exclusive rights in the Middle East and North Africa to the Premier League in a three-year deal, from 2013-14 to 2015-16, with the MP & Silva agency.
The Premier League is said to have limited the number of games Al Jazeera broadcasts until the channel puts provisions in place to prevent its material being pirated. The majority of piracy in the UK is said to stem from Al Jazeera’s Premier League broadcasts, according to the report.
Currently, Al Jazeera subscription cards are being utilised by individuals and owners of bars and pubs who utilise them in generic set top boxes that can receive the Al Jazeera signal being broadcast from the Middle East on the Nilesat and Arabsat satellites.
Pirate companies are also redistributing the Al Jazeera broadcast over the internet for live streaming.
Tratto da Wall Street Journal