Pub owners and radio may be missing out most but after that it's the fans who can't afford the extortionate prices for live (in person or on TV) football.
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More than a third of Premier League football fans say they regularly watch matches live online via unofficial streams, according to a BBC survey. 47% of fans have watched a match through an unofficial provider at least once in the past.
Younger fans (aged 18-34) are considerably more likely than their older counterparts to say they stream live football matches online through an unofficial provider - 65% do so at least once a month compared to 33% of 35-54 year olds and 13% of those aged 55+.
The main reasons include a friend/family member doing it and they just watch; the quality of the stream; and because sports TV packages are considered not good value for money.
Last season saw the biggest drop in live Premier League TV viewing figures for seven years, hitting both Sky and BT. Sky saw a 14% drop, while viewing of BT channels dropped by 2%.
A Premier League spokesman said: "Fans should know that these pre-loaded boxes enable pirate broadcasts of Premier League football, and other popular content, and are illegal. People who supply them have been jailed or ordered to pay significant financial penalties.
"We are increasingly seeing prominent apps and add-ons being closed down as the law catches up with them, leading to consumers being out of pocket."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40483486
Query - it is illegal to supply a stream, but is it illegal to watch it (and not record it)? And how does Cricfree continue to broadcast illegal streams?
Pub owners and radio may be missing out most but after that it's the fans who can't afford the extortionate prices for live (in person or on TV) football.
It's not illegal to watch under EU law but as you suggest it would be illegal to record a stream. It is illegal to receive a stream for "commercial gain" though, hence the occasional prosecution of pubs.
Do you have a source regarding that particular stance on downloading illegal content? With my Intellectual Property hat on I would have said that merely downloading illegal streams represents illegal reproduction. And in 2014 The Court of Justice of the European Union stated that their Directive does not permit reproduction made for private use from an unlawful source.
I am not familiar with the concept of illegal reproduction being permitted where use is not for commercial gain but internet streaming is not an area of Intellectual Property that I am involved in - so I am happy to be put right on any score.
The Supreme Court in the UK in 2013 and the Court of Justice in the EU in 2014 both made a ruling that watching a "pirated" stream is not an act of copyright infringement as no copy is made.
See Article 171 of the UK judgement here:
https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-...2_Judgment.pdf