Content protection services provider Friend MTS has announced that Saran Media Group, a media company specialising in sports and entertainment broadcasting across Turkey, the Turkic states, and Eastern Europe, has chosen FMTS’ anti-piracy services to protect top flight live sports including NFL, La Liga, NBA, Serie A, EuroLeague, UFC and Wimbledon on its S Sport Plus OTT service.
According to FMTS, Saran Media’s aggressive growth strategy is based on increasing investments in high value sports, and it chose to partner with FMTS to protect that content and it is sending a clear signal of its commitment to content security as a responsible partner to rights holders. The service went live in April 2025.
Özgür Oğuz, chief marketing officer, S Sport Plus, said: “We are rapidly expanding the top tier content we offer to S Sport Plus audiences and take our responsibilities to protect our investments from piracy very seriously. With its long-standing reputation for developing new innovations to fight piracy, Friend MTS impressed us with their detailed understanding of the nuances of the piracy landscape and how it is evolving. We are already seeing the benefits of using FMTS piracy monitoring services and look forward to evolving the partnership in the future.”
Shane McCarthy, CEO, Friend MTS, added: “Live sports piracy in Turkey costs the sports sector and rights holders millions of Turkish liras each year. Not only does piracy undermine the broadcasting sector but impacts the value of media rights. When a leading media organisation like Saran invests in rights, it’s critical they protect them with the best anti-piracy solutions on the market. FMTS was able to quickly and easily demonstrate to the Saran team that our world-class anti-piracy services offer an immediate ROI. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with Saran Media.”
.jpg)
IBC community mourns passing of Michael Lumley, 1943–2026
Michael Lumley, one of the leading contributors to IBC’s rapid development over the last 20 years, died suddenly on 20 July 2026.
RTS gives BBC’s Rosie Nieder Young Technologist of the Year 2026 award
The Royal Television Society (RTS) has named Rosie Nieder, Operational Production Engineer at the BBC, the winner of its RTS Young Technologist of the Year Award.
EIT Culture & Creativity launches fund to address skills gap across Europe's AV media sector
EIT Culture & Creativity has opened a €600,000 call to fund the development of new professional training for Europe's audiovisual (AV) media sector. The new call invites education providers and media organisations to develop practical courses in AI, intellectual property and digital storytelling.
Upcoming webinar: Beating the clock on live piracy dynamics
Join IBC365 and Verimatrix at the Attack Vectors, Scale, and the Race for Real-Time Response webinar on 29 July 2026 at 14:00 BST to discover the latest techniques propelling preventive, real-time strategies against modern piracy.
24 million watch England's World Cup defeat
A peak audience of 24 million watched as Argentina knocked out England in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday night (July 15) across BBC One and BBC iPlayer, giving the BBC an 85% share of all TV viewing.
