Sports piracy: 1,279 domains blocked by Arcom in 2022

Arcom (merger of the CSA and Hadopi) blocked "1,279 illegal sports domain names" that were illegally broadcasting sports competitions in 2022, according to the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication in its report "Bilan des actions de protection de la création et des contenus sportifs" (Assessment of actions to protect sports content and its creation, see attached document), published on 22/05/2023.

Of these 1,279 blocked domains, 512 were blocked as a result of court injunctions while the remaining 767 were blocked via notifications from Arcom. The blocking of these sites concerns 11 competitions: the Top 14, the Roland-Garros and Wimbledon Grand Slam tournaments, Formula 1 and MotoGP World Championships, 2022 World Cup, AFCON, UEFA Champions League, Ligue 1 Uber Eats, Ligue 2 BKT and the Premier League.

"The overall illicit sports audience decreased by 41% between 2021 and 2022, from an average of 2.8 million Internet users to 1.6 million. 15% of Internet users facing blocking have turned to legal offers and 37% have stopped their illicit…