UK High Court Grants Premier League Rights to Block Pirate Streams

• The Premier League will have rights to block all pirate streams for the 2018/2019 season, allowing the sports organization to block pirate Kodi add-ons and websites.
• The Premier League also received a blocking injunction earlier this year which allows the body to direct ISP to block illegitimate streams in real time.
• The football organization has been able to block 5,000 IP addresses thus far, and with the court order in place, users who view pirate streams may finally have to stop.

Streaming football in the UK without legitimate subscriptions may finally come to an end with the Premier League gaining the rights to block IP addresses of pirate streamers. According to a new injunction granted by the United Kingdom High Court, the football organization will have rights to block pirate streams in real time. With a large number of football fans choosing to look to pirate streams instead of subscribing to legitimate platforms like BT or Sky Sports.

The easiest way to access pirate streams is by obtaining a piracy-enabled Kodi IPTV box. With the court injunction in place, the Premier League can deny streams to IP addresses of users who use pirate Kodi add-ons or stream from illegal websites. In addition, the football organization can also direct ISPs (Sky, BT, Virgin Media, Plusnet, EE and TalkTalk) to take action against users who view pirate streams by denying them services during matches in the 2018/2019 football season.

The court order was sanctioned under Section 97a of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. According to the High Court, the Premier League will be able to “target the suppliers of illegal streams to IPTV boxes, and the internet, in a proportionate and precise manner.”

So far over 5,000 ISPs have been blocked by the football organization and with the football season set to start soon in the UK, more pirate streamers will become active allowing the Premier League to take action. If users are blocked by ISPs, no action will be taken against them outside of a blackout period preventing them from watching a match. None of the ISPs have objected to the ruling, and it remains to be seen how effective the move it against piracy. However, with streaming services being cheaper than ever users are likely to move on to legitimate sources.

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