The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) and sports streamer DAZN worked together to shut down a high-traffic piracy service earlier this month, the companies recently announced.
The enforcement action targeted Photocall, a Spain-based website that offered live streams of 1,127 channels sourced from 60 countries. The site logged more than 26 million visits over the past year, with nearly one third of that traffic coming from Spain and significant audiences in Mexico, Germany, Italy and the United States.
According to investigators, Photocall retransmitted numerous channels that carried live sports programming, including events from MotoGP, Formula 1, Serie A, the NFL, the NHL, the WTA and club networks such as Real Madrid TV, Barça TV and Betis TV.
Photocall did not distribute DAZN’s own channels, but it did make available programming licensed to DAZN through its partnerships with major sports leagues and rights holders. DAZN and ACE jointly conducted the investigation that ultimately identified the operator of the site within Spain. ACE, which is led by the Motion Picture Association, approached the operator and secured a settlement that included the immediate shutdown of the service.
“Content theft harms the entire sports ecosystem,” said Oscar Vilda, the CEO of DAZN Iberia. “This illegal service did not offer DAZN channels, but it did redistribute the content of some of our partners – especially MotoGP and Formula 1, as well as Serie A, the NFL, the NHL, and the Women’s Tennis Association, and club channels like Real Madrid TV, Barça TV and Betis TV. Following the coordinated work of DAZN’s anti-piracy team and ACE, we have safeguarded the value of those rights and ensured that fans can continue to enjoy live sports coverage with the highest quality, at an accessible price and without facing the risks of malware or fraud.”
Larissa Knapp, the Executive Vice President and Chief Content Protection Officer at the MPA, said ACE will continue targeting piracy operations that undermine live sports and premium television rights.
“Deterrence works, and we will continue pursuing illicit operations that transmit live content illegally,” Knapp said. “Our actions are targeted, proportionate, and designed to protect rights-holders and audiences while maintaining the integrity of live sports and access to legitimate services.”
As part of the settlement, all domains associated with Photocall will redirect users to ACE’s “Watch Legally” resource, which provides information about authorized streaming platforms across global markets.
