After 1.6 billion visits are over: authorities close the world’s largest illegal sports streaming network Streamast, DAZN celebrates this-and the blow against a second platform with a focus on sports streaming in the EU. But what’s next?
Largest illegal sports streaming network stopped
The Sport Streaming platform Streamast, the world’s largest illegal network with 80 connected domains, has now been closed after over 1.6 billion visits last year. The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) listed by the USA worked together with the campaign with Egyptian authorities. According to the DAZN Group, the closure is an important success: “This criminal operation withdrawn from sport worldwide and endangered fans,” explained Ed McCarthy, COO of the DAZN Group.
Raid and investigation
On August 24th, two people were arrested in El-Sheikh Zaid, Egypt (via Cnn). The police ensured laptops, smartphones, cash and credit cards. The investigators covered a sham company network in the United Arab Emirates, which has been washed around $ 6.2 million in advertising revenues since 2010. Most access to the platform came from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, the Philippines and Germany. In addition to top football leagues such as Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1, Streams also offered streams of US sports such as NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and Motorsport 1.
It has now also been announced that the illegal streaming platform Calcio was also closed, which recovered more than 123 million accesses last year – Over six million of them from Italy alone. Calcio enabled access to premium sports broadcasts, including Serie A, Champions League, NBA and Formula 1. Infographic Sky, DAZN, Prime & Co.: Expensive football fan life through PAY-TV subscriptions All affected domains now lead to the information page “Watch Legally” of the ACE.
Reasons for high demand
One reason for the popularity of illegal offers is the high costs of legal streaming services. Experts warn that imitators will be created as long as no more affordable packages are offered.
