Advanced Television

Industry call for EC live content online piracy action

October 29, 2025

By Colin Mann

A coalition of 36 leaders from across Europe’s media, sport, security and trade body sectors has made public a letter sent to Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen and Commissioner Glenn Micallef, urging the European Commission to take legislative action to stop the unauthorised online transmission of live sports and cultural events.

The letter warns that online piracy is growing in scale and impact, threatening European consumers, creative jobs, and the financial sustainability of both the media and sports industries. The signatories notably stress that the 2023 Commission Recommendation on combating online piracy of live events has had little to no tangible effect, and hence call for binding EU legislation — a step repeatedly supported by the European Parliament in recent years.

“Legislators may think of online piracy as a mere business issue. However, it has a major impact on jobs… Piracy takes away revenues that are vital to ensure economic growth and employment in Europe,” stated William Maunier, President, UNI Europa – Media, Entertainment and Arts.

“The issue of piracy, and particularly live piracy, has become too big to ignore… We fully support strong legislative instruments at European level,” added Grégoire Polad, Director General, Association of Commercial Television and VOD Services in Europe.

“Every illegal stream affects the business model of our media partners and endangers European consumers… Without effective measures, illegal business models will continue to spread,” commented Oliver Pribramsky, DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH.

The letter reads:

Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, Commissioner Glenn Micallef,

As CEOs/Leaders of organisations that entertain and inform millions of Europeans by delivering Europe’s most-watched sports, most-valued cultural programming, and most-attended live events, we are writing to express our strong concern about the impact live content piracy has on our businesses, consumers and the broader economy.

We operate in increasingly competitive markets and invest heavily in original content, infrastructure, technology, and people — all to deliver live experiences that are trusted, legal, and of the highest- quality. However, our investments continue to be threatened by organised criminal enterprises. For years, rightsowners have raised the alarm. Today, piracy has reached scales that can no longer be ignored.

While we acknowledge the important work undertaken by the European Commission in addressing this challenge through the 2023 Recommendation on combating online piracy of sports and other live events, its implementation has yet to deliver tangible results. We therefore look forward to seeing further legislative steps being taken to achieve the objectives set out in the Recommendation.

In 2024 alone, a study showed that 81% of the millions of illegal live streams detected in Europe were not suspended, and less than 3% were suspended within 30 minutes of a notice being sent. Similar data for the first half of 2025 shows no improvement. The use of Pirate IPTV platforms and devices is also growing and the damage to our businesses is real. The estimated yearly losses to rightsholders are at €2.2 billion for the Italian audiovisual industry, at €1.8 billion in Germany and €1.5 billion in France.

Piracy also erodes tax revenues that support public services and puts consumers at significant risk since unauthorized platforms frequently expose users to malware, data theft, and inappropriate content— often without any form of child protection or safety controls. Voluntary measures and private enforcement are no longer sufficient. The legal remedies have been outpaced by the speed and sophistication of these networks.

We are aware that the European Commission is currently reflecting on an appropriate response to the issue of live piracy. Our teams continue to stand ready to work with your services as we respectfully call for targeted legislation that can restore strong financial contributions towards high quality audiovisual content, grassroots sports, live events, job creation, tax revenues and away from criminal organisations

Building on the 2023 Recommendation, we ask for the introduction of legislative measures that will:

  1. Ensure that, upon receipt of a notice, infringing content is taken down as near to immediately as is possible and in all cases within a maximum time frame of 30 The urgency of live event piracy justifies a far shorter timeframe which is further supported by the fact that such removal can already be effected in a significantly shorter timeframe using the technology solutions available today.
  1. Ensure EU-wide live dynamic blocking orders (including IP blocking) that address mirror sites and successor domains are made available in all Member States.
  2. Ensure intermediaries (including but not limited to platforms, hosts, VPN, CDN and app stores) introduce and maintain robust Know Your Business Customer (KYBC) policies.

We also call for the comprehensive enforcement of the Digital Services Act and on national Digital Services Coordinators to award private bodies such as those we represent the Trusted Flagger status when requested.

As business leaders, employer associations, and unions, we are committed to promoting fair competition, innovation, and accountability. But those principles cannot thrive without basic protection of the content our industries produce and distribute. To be able to continue to contribute to the European economy in ambitious ways, rightsowners must not be left to confront the growing threat of live piracy on their own.

We stand ready to support the Commission’s work with data, insight, and technical input, and would welcome the opportunity to meet and discuss next steps.

Yours sincerely,

  1. ACT – Cécile Frot-Coutaz, President of ACT / Sky Group CEO of Sky Studios and Chief Content Officer

  2. AMC Networks International – Rutger Andrée Wiltens, General Counsel

  3. ATP Media – Mark Webster, CEO

  4. beIN Media Group – Yousef Al Obaidly, Group CEO

  5. CANAL+ – Maxime Saada, CEO

  6. CME Group – Klára Brachtlová, Deputy CEO and Chief External Affairs Officer

  7. DAZN – Shay Seghev, CEO

  8. DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga – Steffen Merkel, CEO

  9. DPG Media – Dirk Lodewyckx, Managing Director, Entertainment

  10. Euroleague Basketball – Paulius Motiejunas, CEO

  11. European Arenas Association – Robert Fitzpatrick, President

  12. European Leagues – Alberto Colombo, General Secretary

  13. FriendMTS – Shane McCarthy, CEO

  14. Lega Calcio Serie A – Luigi De Siervo, CEO

  15. LFP Media – Nicolas de Tavernost, CEO

  16. Liga nacional de fútbol profesional de España – Javier Tebas, President

  17. London Marathon Group – Nick Bitel, CEO

  18. MFE-MEDIAFOREUROPE – Gina Nieri, Executive Board Member

  19. Mediastalker – Konstantinos Bourkoulas, Founder and CEO

  20. Nagravision – André Kudelski, CEO

  21. Paramount – Marco Nobili, Executive VP and General Manager Streaming International

  22. Pearle – Live Performance Europe – Francisca Carneiro Fernandes, President

  23. PGA European Tour – Guy Kinnings, CEO

  24. Premier League – Richard Masters, Chief Executive

  25. PSE Belgium – Jan Vereecke, Managing Director

  26. The R&A – Neil Armit, Chief Commercial Officer

  27. RTL Group – Andreas Fischer, COO

  28. Sky Group – Dana Strong, Group CEO

  29. Scottish Professional Football League – Neil Doncaster, Group Chief Executive

  30. TF1 Group – Rodolphe Belmer, CEO

  31. The Walt Disney Company – Tony Chambers, President EMEA

  32. UNI Europa – Media, Entertainment and Arts – William Maunier, President

  33. United Media – Aleksandra Subotić, CEO

  34. Verimatrix – Laurent Dechaux, CEO

  35. Viaplay Group – Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, CEO

  36. Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe – Andrew Georgiou, Managing Director

Categories: Broadcast, Business, Content, Headline, IPTV, OTT, Pay TV, Piracy, Policy, Regulation, Rights

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