The president of the Paris Judicial Court went straight to the point to apply the law.
Referred to in summary proceedings by the Professional Football League (LFP), the courts ruled on March 17 and asked Orange, Free, Bouygues or SFR to block access to IPTV services and sites broadcasting illegal streaming at source. of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2.
Product of the merger between Hadopi and the CSA, the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) is responsible for ensuring that these ISPs (Internet service providers) "black-list" these services very popular for a generation of Internet users.
According to the most recent statistics, 17% of French people aged 15 and over “
used illegal means to access online sports content
” in 2019, according to a CSA / Hadopi study published last July.
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“Blocking the IP addresses of illegal streaming services was technically possible, all that was missing was a legislative text,” recalls Caroline Guenneteau, deputy general secretary of the beIN Media group.
“The legislative arsenal adopted last October now allows the judge to issue a dynamic blocking order which makes it possible not to come back to see it every week or each time the piracy evolves”, she underlines.
In concrete terms, the judge pronounced a ban on access to the IPTV service Atlaspro.tv and to several sites that pirate the broadcast of Ligue 1, but the blockages will also affect mirror sites, i.e. copies platforms prohibited from access, but also IPTV sites and services not yet identified at the time of the court decision or the summons of the ISPs by the rights holders.
Broadcasters have for years used the service of technical service providers who compile and update lists of platforms that break the law.
They will therefore only have to provide the names to the authorities.
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Arcom has seriously beefed up its game since January and its implementation thanks to the application of the law of October 2021 "relating to the regulation and protection of access to cultural works in the digital age. ".
BeIN SPORTS France had inaugurated the new legislative system by obtaining the preventive blocking of 18 streaming sites which broadcast the African Cup of Nations or Champions League matches.
The Canal + group has already blocked at least 13 illicit streaming sites which broadcast the Top 14 rugby at the end of January.
Finally, as reported by the NextImpact site, the two groups had joined forces in February to have the court find that a galaxy of sites provided video streaming of European competitions and obtained their almost definitive blockages.
