UAE shut down 144 illegal streams of ‘Fight of the Century’

Dubai: Nearly 150 illegal online broadcasts of the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao ‘Fight of the Century’ at the weekend were blocked by the UAE authorities, it was announced on Wednesday.

The Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection (CCCP) sector in the Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai, in cooperation with the UAE Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA), shut down the 144 channels.

On receiving a complaint from the exclusive broadcaster of the Las Vegas bout, the CCCP team sprang into action 48 hours before it began, monitoring websites and sending reports to the TRA to block live-streaming.

The prompt action was part of CCCP’s continued efforts to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) and curb television piracy, thereby saving paid TV networks from the huge financial losses they face as a result of piracy, according to a press release.

Mohammad Rashed Ali Lootah, Executive Director of CCCP, said: “Our teams started in earnest after we received a complaint on intellectual property rights infringement from the exclusive broadcaster of the ‘Fight of the Century’. As a result, we were able to block at least 144 websites from broadcasting the match, saving costs for the exclusive broadcaster.”

Lootah said the complaint came after DED and broadcaster OSN launched a campaign to deter companies and individuals from depending on pirated TV channels and improve awareness on the negative impact of such practices. He also praised the role of the TRA, which was quick to block websites that engaged in piracy.

Mohammad Al Zarouni, Executive Director of Policies and Programmes for the TRA, said: “Protection of copyright and intellectual property is clear indication of the level of maturity and economic development. We will continue to work with the various local authorities and international bodies to promote the values and concepts of IP protection at local and global levels.”

CCCP encourages individuals and businesses to report TV piracy on the Ahlan Dubai number, 600 54 5555, smartphone application Sallety, or on the Twitter hashtag #Dubai_consumers.