Police are set to visit 1,000 homes in the UK this week in a major clampdown on illegal streaming, according to a report from the Mirror. The force are said to have identified a large database of customers that will be visited to ensure they are warned over the potential threat of prosecution.
Falling under that is the issue of illegal streams for Premier League and football games alike among other mediums such as television and movies. The report adds that police have teamed up with anti-piracy investigators from FACT in “Operation Raider", which is set to create shock with a knock at people's homes.
Those who are visited by the police could be served with notices that will order them to stop their actions immediately and could be warned of the consequences that may follow. Detective Chief Inspector Gary Robinson, of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, told the Mirror: "Accessing films, TV series and live sports events from unauthorised sources is illegal, can expose consumers to risks such as data theft and malware, and can help fund organised criminal groups."
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While it helps on the crackdown on illegal streams, it does bring forward the question surrounding accessibility of football. The Premier League, EFL and National League are currently available via paid subscription channels such as Sky Sports, BT, Amazon Prime and the EFL's dedicated streaming service iFollow.
That leaves the FA Cup and international games as the only ones available on free-to-air channels for everyone to view - such as BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
There are also questions over the amount of games available to those who own such services, with a 3pm blackout put over any games being shown on a Saturday. While that restricts games shown on that day, Premier League clashes hosted on a Sunday may only have one game available to viewers for a 2pm kick-off while others are effectively behind a similar blackout in the UK, despite being shown elsewhere.
Amid such questions, the EFL are said to be considering a plan over scrapping the 3pm blackout for their next set of TV rights that will be sold off to the highest bidder. There will likely be opposition to such a move though, with belief that many match-attending supporters will simply stay at home instead.
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