Sky wins court order to block illegal streaming of content

Sky has won a UK High Court order that will compel internet service providers to block piracy services responsible for illicitly streaming its highly popular football games and blockbuster TV programmes.
The court ruling will necessitate UK online platforms to prevent unauthorized access to streams across various scheduled channels, including the esteemed Sky Sports and Sky Atlantic.
The utilization of internet TV media boxes, capable of illicitly streaming content, has witnessed a significant surge in recent years. These boxes come installed with software that facilitates streaming of channels from across the globe.
The order granted to Sky is akin to the one obtained by the Premier League in the past four seasons but boasts a broader scope, safeguarding a diverse array of content in its programming.
To combat piracy effectively, Sky will now be empowered to disable individual pirate sites at specific times with the assistance of a third-party group that identifies the source of illegal streams through IP addresses or dedicated servers. This information is then conveyed to internet service providers who will block access to these locations on their networks.
Blocking has proven to be one of the most potent tools in the battle against piracy within the industry. Last season, the Premier League's UK blocking order successfully curtailed or removed over 600,000 illegal live streams.
Court-issued injunctions will now empower Sky to enforce real-time blocking of domains, sites, and servers by internet service providers.
A Sky spokesperson affirmed the court's decision, emphasizing that it would curb the proliferation of pirated Sky content."

He added: “Blocking has been shown to be an extremely effective tool in tackling content piracy and is just one of a range of measures we take to protect our content and our business.”
Law enforcement agencies have also intensified efforts to crackdown on criminal operations running illegal streaming networks. Recently, five British men were sentenced to jail for up to 11 years for their involvement in selling illegal IPTV "sticks" to operate an unlawful streaming network dedicated to Premier League games.