Illegal sports p2p streaming to get the boot

Author: Ryan Garside
Published: 29th November 2006
Comments (13) Stumble
We couldn't get David Beckham's views on p2p live football streams. Needless to say, he probably doesn't watch them.

We couldn't get David Beckham's views on p2p live football streams. Needless to say, he probably doesn't watch them.

The BBC has an interesting article over in its entertainment section that examines the football authorities moved to stop illegal p2p live football and other sports being shared on the internet.

At the moment many sites, like Free Football.org or WatchLiveFootball.com offer links to both the software used to watch the p2p games, as well as links to the streams for each particular game. Despite the fact that the games are usually streamed in fairly low quality, often with a Chinese commentator, lots of people are using the service to illegally watch Premier League football for free.

Club fansites with active forum communities, such as CFCnet, will share the links to one another. The live football service is particularly tantalising in that it allows people to not only watch almost every single Premiership game but also gives football fans access to matches that aren't televised at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon.

The loser in all this is Sky TV, a company which provides huge financial support to the football league as well as other sports (which are also available for free through the streaming sites). As a result the sporting authorities have moved to try and get the sites shut down by employing the services of NetResult. NetResult will now try to hunt out these sites and put a stop to all the free sports coverage.

With the freedom of the internet though, it is unclear whether it will ever be possible to fully stop the free access. A spokesman for NetResult, Tim Cooper, said this to the BBC:

"We're gradually working the numbers down and down, so unfortunately it's a bit of a lengthy process. You could shut a website down today but tomorrow another 10 will appear. We're fighting a continual battle because people will always try and jump on and off certain services and new technology is always evolving."

Stopping the p2p coverage will only be half the battle. Currently you can download almost every single Premiership goal from popular video sharing websites like Google Video or Youtube, often before the videos are available on traditional television. How the sports authorities will overcome such a problem is unclear at the moment.

Will NetResult ever manage to stop illegal sports video sharing? Let us know your thoughts in the forum.
Quote Buzzons 29th November 2006, 12:29
oh.dear.god

why do they care, its not like it _really_ matters and hey, if it means footballers make a more NORMAL salary then good on the sites!
Quote mmorgue 29th November 2006, 14:48
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buzzons
...if it means footballers make a more NORMAL salary then good on the sites!

How can you say that?! Footballers are heroes! They deserve £5mill+ salaries for kicking a ball up and down a pitch! A nurse or doctor or police officer -- so what? All they do is either risk their own lives in order to save ours or spend ungodly hours doing work that most of us would rather not know about. And £22k~ £35k is more than enough...

Anyhow, enough of my sarcastic rant above... banning streamed football matches -- what in hell do they think they will accomplish with that? Does Sky think more people will say, "Ya know, I might as well purchase the rip-off Sky system now..." ??

People will find new and more ingenious ways to get what they want when commercial solutions don't reflect consumer expectations. Period.
Quote cjmUK 29th November 2006, 15:14
Well, I fully intend to watch Liverpool vs. Portsmouth tonight courtesy some 'Chinese friends'.

Not only do I get to see the footy, but I'm learning a foreign language in the process. I've learned a few mandarin words and phrases already:

'Gellard' - a dynamic and skilful, if slightly pixelated, mid-fielder.
'Ze lefaleez a ranker' - how you congratulate the officials on their performance.
'hally kewer' - a malingering has-been on expensive wages.

Heaven forbid that they deprive me of my PPLive, and force me onto Sky! I don't think I could face learning another language simply to understand Andy Gray.
Quote Mother-Goose 29th November 2006, 15:54
Anyone know of a site streaming the ashes?
Quote cjmUK 29th November 2006, 16:06
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mother-Gooser
Anyone know of a site streaming the ashes?

Check one of the Horror channels....
Quote steveo_mcg 29th November 2006, 17:56
This is great work by sky... highlighting this tech is available. I'd never heard of this but now i might just try it.
Quote jezmck 29th November 2006, 18:06
p2p?
Quote dragontail 29th November 2006, 19:35
How exactly do they stutdown illegal servers set up in China?
Quote DXR_13KE 29th November 2006, 23:27
they must have felt a blow in their revenue to go after P2P like this, any day soon youtube will be shut down because there are tons of replays there
Quote:
Originally Posted by dragontail
How exactly do they shutdown illegal servers set up in China?

with ch1n353 1337 h4x0r skillz :(
Quote <A88> 30th November 2006, 01:26
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmorgue
How can you say that?! Footballers are heroes! They deserve £5mill+ salaries for kicking a ball up and down a pitch! A nurse or doctor or police officer -- so what? All they do is either risk their own lives in order to save ours or spend ungodly hours doing work that most of us would rather not know about. And £22k~ £35k is more than enough...
The problem is, it's all in proportion, so footballers get their 'fair' share of the money traded in football. In order for doctors, firemen and police officers to get paid the amount they deserve, there would have to be incredible raises in taxes- and needless to say nobody would be fond of that. However tickets to see a football match are usually fairly in line with everything else for a top league match (about £20). Sure, this isn't cinema prices, but how much do you pay to see a gig or see a show? Because football's so popular it generates ridiculous amounts of money by default, and whilst replica shirts might cost a silly amount, everything else is usually normally priced. Footballers don't deserve what they get paid, but we're more prepared to fund their salaries than lend money to the government.

<A88>
Quote TMM 30th November 2006, 02:37
hilarious. It's like someone coming out of the blue and announcing they are going to cure AIDs :D
Quote Garside 30th November 2006, 12:34
Had a look last night to see how active the streaming sites were. Loads of them weren't working so it looks like the UEFA may have succeeded!
Quote cjmUK 30th November 2006, 13:02
I doubt it.... Half of them are permanently a bit ropey.

There is little the authorities can do about them anyway - most are hosted in China, so the only way to stop us getting to them is to censor us.

It would be ironic if certain sports-related sites in China (the global capital of censorship) were censored by the West, yet none of the kiddie-porn/jihadi sites....
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