There’s a huge night of football ahead as Chelsea face Barcelona in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The blockbuster European clash is expected to attract millions of fans but many may face a disappointing night.
BT Sport has the exclusive rights to show the Champions League and those that don’t subscribe to the premium service may be tempted to try and stream the action illegally online.
Viewing via the web has become hugely popular in the past few years especially with TV players, such as Kodi, offering a relatively easy way to access streams via add-ons.
However, with so many fans opting to watch without paying it’s not gone unnoticed by the rights holders.
The Premier League is already actively blocking these streams and now UEFA has secured their own court order aimed at stopping people watching football without permission.
The blocks began last last week and, with them continuing until May 26, it’s unlikely anyone trying to tune in to tonight’s Chelsea v Barcelona game will be able to access any illegal streams.
In a bid to make it even harder for UK fans to access this premium content some of the UK’s biggest ISP’s including BT, Virgin Media and Sky have been told they must take immediate action to block any illicit streams.
In a written decision the court ruling said: “The Uefa competitions are very popular with television viewers in the UK. This year’s Champions League final attracted several million viewers.”
“Uefa’s evidence establishes that it owns the copyright in television broadcasts of all matches in the Uefa competitions, and in films (particularly replays), artistic works and musical works which are incorporated within those broadcasts.”
“The rights are very valuable. BT currently pays approximately £360 million each season for these rights together with the rights in respect of the Uefa Super Cup.”
Along with users being blocked by UEFA, fans are also being warned by the police about the dangers of watching illegally online.
Detective Sergeant Kevin Ives, from the City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit is urging consumers to be wary when trying to access content without permission.
“Now that the Premier League and UEFA have both secured high court blocking orders allowing them to shut off illegal streams at source, it has made it more difficult for the public to find illegal streams of premium sport online.
“Consumers are putting themselves at unnecessary risk of fraud by purchasing and using illegal streaming boxes, even more so if the content they try and watch is being effectively blocked.”
It certainly appears these blocks and bans are working with recent news from football broadcaster, Sky, estimating the majority of streams are now being stopped.
Speaking at the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) Conference 2017 in Macau, Matthew Hibbert, Head of Litigation, Sky said: “In terms of the impact on piracy, server blocking has been huge.
“Live streams of the Premier League can no longer be easily found in the UK.
Explaining more to Express.co.uk, Mr Hibbert confirmed: “We estimate that Internet service providers are now blocking the majority of pirated Premier League streams.”