Dubai: Television piracy has long been a problematic issue for broadcasters and copyrights holders around the world. but an emerging problem is beginning to affect legitimate subscribers.
There is an increasing number of pirated devices being sold globally that mirroring real-life pay television subscription services, but at a cheaper price, according to Julia Mooney, Product Strategy Director at Irdeto,
Iredto is a company that provides revenue assurance and media protection solutions to pay television operators and content owners. Mooney told Gulf News that the streaming of pirated content has become a significant issue in the media industry.
beIN Sports, the Qatar-owned global sports network, is currently trying to mitigate overseas piracy broadcasts of its English Premier League (EPL) rights. The sports network has live and exclusive rights to all Premier League (EPL) games in 23 countries across the Middle East and North Africa region, including in the UAE. But because its broadcasts are being pirated from the Middle East into the United Kingdom, beIN Sports is blocking a number of games it shows each week, which means legitimate paying subscribers are also missing out.
This is an issue with Middle Eastern fans who paid to see all the games.
“It is easy to sympathise with the position of those customers who have paid subscriptions to access channels in good faith, in the expectation that certain matches will be made available,” said Rachael Hammond, Associate at law firm Al Tamimi & Company, in an email.
Revenue
Domestic and global television rights for the Premier League is bringing in around £5.5 billion (Dh33.7 billion) in revenue for EPL the current three-season package. beIN Sports has never disclosed the amount it paid, however, the group it bought the rights off, MP &Silva, reportedly paid around $300 million (Dh1.1 billion) for them.
“The value of the international broadcast rights in English Premier League matches is key to the game. It is a problem for multiple stakeholders, including fans, if it is the case that those rights are being undermined,” Hammond said.
The network and the Premier League has so far avoided commenting on the piracy issue apart from a few press releases earlier this year. This week, repeated requests to comment from Gulf News to the sports network and the Premier League went unanswered.
“There is a distinct lack of information relating to the recent actions of beIN Sports. Whatever the underlying commercial and contractual situation, this is undoubtedly an unfortunate situation for fans,” Hammond said.
Channels are broadcasted on du and etisalat services in the UAE but people in the Mena region can also subscribe and watch the channels and games directly from beIN Sports Connect website.
Online subscribers are paying around Dh500 for their annual subscription and were reportedly emailed a compensation offer by the sports network this week of one months free subscription in lieu of last weekends near complete blackout of Premier League games.
Counterproductive
“The industry is never going to succeed if it takes a hard-line stance on this. I know they want to secure their interests and they have a promise to their service provider for viewership but it is going to be counterproductive if it alienates a lot of viewers,” said Vidya S. Nath, Research Director, Information and Communication Technologies — Digital Media Practice at Frost & Sullivan, in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Analysts — and broadcasters and content owners — agree that piracy is always going to happen, however, piracy needs to be stemmed because of the advertisement generated revenue that surrounds live sporting broadcasts.
Besides the new wave of pirated devices, the old concern of websites that re-broadcast licensed content for free is still present. These websites generate revenue from advertisements and may also be a source of malware, Mooney said. It is relatively easy to stream content online. Because of this, pirated websites are easily attracting audiences, which means taking revenue away from the legitimate copyright holder.
“Television piracy is a headache for broadcasters across the Mena region. However, online piracy of television programming and unauthorised reception of satellite television signals are issues which affect broadcasters globally,” Hammond said.
Take down websites
The Australian Football League (AFL), a relatively small player compared to the Premier League, has members of its legal team regularly putting in request to take down websites that host pirated content, said Andrew Dillon, General Counsel at the AFL, in a phone interview.
The AFL’s current five-year domestic television rights sold for 1.25 billion Australian dollars and attract a weekly average audience of between 4.5 and 5.5 million viewers across nine games. Australia has a population of 23 million.
The number of subscribers to its online digital service, which is only available to international audiences, is between 40,000 and 50,000. However, networks like OSN also show the games in international markets in a bid to attack new audiences to the game.
“The main strategy is having a well priced product,” Dillon said when asked about overcoming piracy.
The Premier League, which did not respond to several requests for comment, uses companies to take down pirated content as well as to investigate illegal broadcasts in pubs around the United Kingdom.
Television piracy is rampant in several countries in the Middle East, Nath said, but in the case of beIN Sports the issue is the re-broadcast of their channels into territories where they do not hold the television rights.
Many analysts and industry expects agree that one of the most effective ways to deter audiences from accessing pirated content is to make value-for-money services easily available.
But in the case of beIN Sports, Hammond said, “Clearly it is in the interests of beIN Sports and the EPL to reach a swift resolution, not least for the benefit of paying fans, who could in turn be driven to illegitimate means of access.
