World's largest sports piracy site shut down by police

The world's largest website for illegal sports streaming, Streameast, has been shut down by police in Egypt, with help from the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, or ACE. Streameast was a popular destination for people who wanted to watch live sports like Premier League football, Formula One races, and Major League Baseball games without paying for them. In the past year alone, the site was visited more than 1. 6 billion times, mostly by users from the UK, US, Canada, Philippines, and Germany.

ACE's chairman, Charles Rivkin, called the shutdown a major victory in the fight against digital piracy. He said it was a big step forward for sports leagues, entertainment companies, and fans around the world. Sports broadcasting is a huge industry, with global revenues passing $60 billion last year. However, the cost of watching sports legally keeps rising, as fans often need to subscribe to several different platforms to see all the matches they want. This has led many people to turn to illegal streaming sites like Streameast.

Police in Egypt arrested two men in El-Sheikh Zaid, near Cairo, on suspicion of copyright infringement. During the raid, authorities seized laptops, smartphones, cash, and credit cards believed to be used for running the site. They also discovered a shell company in the UAE that was allegedly used to launder nearly £5 million in advertising revenue since 2010, along with £150,000 in cryptocurrency.

Ed McCarthy, chief operating officer of DAZN Group, a sports streaming platform, welcomed the shutdown. He said Streameast was stealing value from sports and putting fans at risk. Now, anyone who tries to visit Streameast will be redirected to an ACE web page that suggests legal ways to watch sports.

Ben Woods, an entertainment analyst at Midia Research, said that while shutting down Streameast is a win for broadcasters, it won't solve the problem of live sports piracy. He compared it to a game of whack-a-mole, where new illegal sites keep appearing. Woods pointed out that high costs and the need for multiple subscriptions are driving people to seek free streams. He also noted that younger fans are used to getting content for free on social media and may not have the money or job security to pay for legal access. Woods believes that making live sports more accessible and affordable is the key to reducing illegal streaming.