Streameast, the largest sports piracy platform, has been shut down following an investigation.
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a U.S.-based coalition of media and entertainment organizations, said it collaborated with Egyptian police to bring down the network, which recorded 1.6 billion visits on its 80 associated domains over the last year.
The bulk of those visits originated from the U.S., Canada, Britain, the Philippines and Germany.
“Today, ACE scored a resounding victory in its fight to detect, deter and dismantle criminal perpetrators of digital piracy: by taking down the largest illegal live sports platform anywhere,” said ACE chairman Charles Rivkin.
“With this landmark action, we have put more points on the board for sports leagues, entertainment companies, and fans worldwide,” Rivkin, who’s also chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association, added.
The network of websites allowed users around the world unauthorized access to top European soccer matches, as well as games from the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and more. The leagues in question have highly lucrative broadcasting deals with broadcasters and subscription streaming services, like Amazon Prime, Peacock and Netflix.
Pay-per-view events were also shown on Streameast.
Each of the illegal sites now redirects to the ACE “Watch Legally” page.
With News Wire Service
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