Premier League: league partners with Irdeto to fight illegal match streaming

The Barclays Premier Leagues has partnered with Irdeto, a global organisation that specialises in media protection, the league announced on 18/09/2014.

The partnership will include a specific programme to investigate the illegal supply of "set-top boxes" that allow commercial organisations -- notably pubs and bars -- to receive illegal streams of Premier League matches. Irdeto will also lead efforts obtain the evidence required to take legal action against suppliers of systems that allow illegal broadcasting of matches.

This collaboration will allow "working closely with law-enforcement organisations all over the world, to pursue actions against the highly organised criminal networks that are involved in the distribution of these illegal services," said the league in a statement.

"Piracy threatens (our TV broadcasting) model" (R. Scudamore, Premier League)

• "Piracy threatens (our TV broadcasting) model and we are confident that our partnership with Irdeto -- who have a proven track record in this area -- will allow us to evolve and improve the way we guard against that threat for…