World’s largest illegal live sports streamer shut down

The shutdown was announced by Egyptian authorities and anti-piracy coalition Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the latter of which represents 50 media and entertainment companies around the world. 

The Egypt-based piracy network Streameast logged more than 1.6 billion visits in the past year through its 80 associated domains. 

Streameast and its domains offered users unauthorised access to matches from Europe’s top football leagues, including England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, Germany’s Bundesliga, France’s Ligue 1, and Portugal’s Primeira Liga.  

The piracy network also provided illicit access to UEFA club competitions, including the Champions League and Europa League, as well as international qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro and UEFA Nations League, and CONMEBOL Copa America. The United States’ Major League Soccer (MLS) and domestic cup competitions were also among the matches that were streamed illicitly. 

Beyond this, Streameast provided access to American sports including the National Football League (NFL) the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB).  

There were also unauthorised sites for pay-per-view boxing, mixed martial arts (MMA), and motorsports including Formula One and Moto GP. 

Site traffic to the various domains originated primarily from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Philippines, and Germany. 

According to The Athletic, two men were arrested by police on suspicion of copyright infringement in El-Sheikh Zaid, near Egypt's capital Cairo. It said authorities had seized laptops and smartphones suspected of being used to operate the sites during a raid, as well as cash and credit cards. 

Police also found links to a shell company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which had allegedly been used to launder £4.9m of advertising revenue since 2010, as well as £150,000 in cryptocurrency. 

“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 Charles Rivkin, Chairman of ACE and Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). “With this landmark action, we have put more points on the board for sports leagues, entertainment companies, and fans worldwide – and our global alliance will stay on the field as long as it takes to identify and target the biggest piracy rings across the globe.” 

“Dismantling Streameast is a major victory for everyone who invests in and relies on the live sports ecosystem,” said Ed McCarthy, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of DAZN Group. “This criminal operation was siphoning value from sports at every level and putting fans across the world at risk. We commend the Egyptian authorities and ACE for their action in bringing down the world’s largest illegal sports streaming operation.” 

The founder of one of Latin America’s biggest illegal broadcasting sites was recently arrested as part of an investigation in Argentina into the piracy of live sports content. Discover more here.