France/Piracy: "We are working on legislative adjustments with ISPs & Arcom" (Xavier Spender, APPS)

"When an illegal broadcast of a sporting event is detected, it is essential to be able to block the stream immediately. In France, the existing system makes it difficult to do this. We hope that this will soon be the case in countries such as the UK, Portugal, Italy and Mali. We are working on technical and legislative adjustments to the current framework with ISPs, Arcom and the public authorities. The law needs to evolve to take account of developments in piracy," said Xavier Spender, general delegate of the French Association for the Protection of Sports Programmes (APPS), to News Tank Football on 20/02/2025.

In its 2024 report on the fight against piracy, published on 28/11, Arcom estimated the loss of revenue from sports piracy in France at €290m in 2023, or 15% of the revenue generated by legal sports platforms and broadcasters (€1.9bn).

The Ligue 1 McDonald's , broadcast by DAZN and beIN Sports in France over the 2024-2029 cycle, has been a major victim of piracy: 37% of people who watched Ligue 1 in 2024-25 would have done so illegally, according to Benjamin Morel, CEO of LFP…