For years, powerful rightsholders and media groups have demanded urgent and decisive action from the European Commission to tackle IPTV piracy of live sports and events.

From the MPA, to the Premier League, Sky, LaLiga and Serie A, the message couldn’t have been clearer or more consistent. It didn’t change after the EC’s rejection of their call for urgent legislative measures in 2022, and remained intact following a consultation and advice early 2023 on a ‘toolbox’ of existing measures .

EC Publishes Assessment of the Effects of Recommendation

In May 2023, the European Commission (EC) issued a Recommendation aimed at tackling online piracy of sports and other live events. It encouraged measures concerning the processing of takedown notices, dynamic injunctions, cooperation between stakeholders, and increasing the availability of legal alternatives.

Aiming to build upon existing legal frameworks such as the InfoSoc Directive, IPRED, and the Digital Services Act (DSA), it was detailed and comprehensive, without being especially urgent.

Some two-and-a-half years later, an assessment of the effects of the Recommendation were published by the EC last week. The report evaluates the progress made by Member States, national authorities, and stakeholders in implementing the various measures outlined in May 2023. Monitoring was carried out by the EUIPO Observatory using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) concerning piracy volume, processing of takedown notices, use of blocking injunctions, and availability of legal offers.

Ensuring Prompt Execution of Takedown Notices

Recommendation: Hosting services should process takedown notices sent by rightsholders as quickly as possible, to help protect vulnerable live events which have most of their value built into the event itself.

Assessment: Only limited progress was reported. ‘Online platforms’ including social media, online marketplaces, and search engines, were generally more responsive due to their obligations under the DSA. Responses from other intermediaries such as Dedicated Server Providers (DSPs) and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) were much slower, highlighting a significant gap in response times when compared to online platforms.

Further Action: According to the report, there’s a need for increased cooperation with intermediaries, including working towards technical solutions to automate processing of takedown notices. The Commission says it will examine the role of intermediaries within the DSA Board discussions.

Rightsholders’ Use of Blocking Injunctions in Member States

Recommendation: Authorized under Article 8(3) of the InfoSoc Directive and Article 11 of IPRED, Members States should facilitate use of dynamic/live blocking injunctions, with appropriate safeguards, against infringers and intermediaries whose services are used to infringe copyrights.

Assessment: The Commission notes that while injunctions are useful, implementation across Member States shows significant variation. At the extremes, some countries have very robust systems in place while others have no system at all. The Commission says there’s not only a need for much broader adoption across the EU, but also more consistent application.

Further Recommendation on Injunctions: Member States are ‘encouraged’ to provide for injunctions against intermediaries, who, regardless of their lack of liability, offer services that are misused for illegal streaming of live sports.

Assessment: Noting efforts in France and Belgium that have blocked CDNs , VPNs and DNS providers , and work in Italy to facilitate the same, the EC also highlights LaLiga’s work in Spain “ against ISPs and CDNs “. Under the DSA, some intermediaries may be exempted from liability, the EC adds, but the DSA does not preclude them from being blocked regardless.

Since these are recent developments, “there is not yet sufficient data to assess the efficiency of dynamic injunctions addressed to those intermediaries,” the report concedes, adding that “a number of end-users, have complained about a few instances of over-blocking.”

The Recommendation appears to have prompted some Member States to reassess their legal frameworks or engage in policy discussions to strengthen enforcement measures. Some Member States have clarified legal standing for sports event organizers, allowing them to pursue injunctions in their own right. Some rightsholders are demanding that blocking injunctions are recognized across borders.

Discussions about the possible introduction of dynamic injunctions have been discussed in a few Member States, but not have not yet materialized. In others, there are no developments to report “prompting concerns” from certain stakeholders, the EC reports.

Further action: The Commission will consider whether new measures are needed to ensure a wider and more consistent use of dynamic injunctions across Member States.

Cooperation between Rightsholders and Intermediaries / Public Authorities

Recommendation: Encourage cooperation between rightsholders and intermediaries to identify the source of unauthorized retransmissions and take measures to prevent repeat misuse.

Assessment: Cooperation agreements to fight piracy exist across Member States, some concluded directly between the parties and others with assistance from public authorities. Agreements between rightsholders and ISPs on blocking measures and issues related to content blocking/removal appear to be most common.

In 2024, participating rightsholders reported 49 voluntary cooperation agreements with intermediaries, rising to 62 in 2025. Cooperation with Dedicated Server Providers (DSPs) account for around two-thirds of agreements (42), with online platforms (18) quite a distance behind. Perhaps unsurprisingly, agreements to identify the source of infringement are far less common; just two were reported.

In general, cooperation has improved, with voluntary agreements becoming more common. The majority of infringement notices resulting in suspension of access to infringing streams were issued in the context of cooperation agreements, with 55% of those proving successful. However, some rightsholders complained that most cooperation agreements still rely on manual processing of infringement notices, which limits effectiveness when applied to live sports.

The Recommendation encourages Member States to actively engage in the exchange of information when sites and services are blocked as part of an injunction. Under the DSA, orders issued by authorities to act against illegal content must be shared by a Member State’s Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) with their counterparts in other Member States.

This system is considered directly relevant to tackling piracy of live events but is not yet fully operational. However, the network is described as a “crucial initiative” through which valuable information is exchanged between participating authorities.

Raising Awareness and Improving Availability of Legal Offers

Recommendation: Increase users’ awareness of legal content, increase the availability, affordability, and attractiveness of live event commercial offers.

Assessment: The report notes that submissions focused solely on live sports events. Several rightholders and sports event organizers have reportedly made efforts to make their offers more accessible, including “setting up a website which allows users to obtain information on where a specific sporting competition is available.”

Yet in noting the following, it seems that readily available information proved elusive enough to prevent an assessment.

“[T]he data submitted by sports event organisers and rightholders to the EUIPO does not allow to fully assess the progress made in terms of the availability of sports events or the affordability and attractiveness of commercial offers,” the report notes.

“Consumers responding to the call for evidence consider that this remains an area of concern, arguing that the availability of affordable legal offers remains low and legal offers are fragmented,” the report notes.

Some national authorities identified pricing of legal offers, fragmentation, and territorial availability, as “possible obstacles” faced by users attempting to access legal live content, “which often requires users to obtain multiple paid subscriptions.”

Overall Conclusions

The European Commission’s assessment concludes that while the Recommendation has encouraged positive developments, its overall impact is limited.

Despite signs of increased awareness and cooperation, piracy by volume has not reduced and remains a problem. While online platforms are seen as effective when processing takedown notices, DSPs reportedly lag far behind when it comes to suspension of pirate streams. Notices sent to CDNs and reverse proxies are increasing but are not effective.

“In addition, an increasing number of notices are being addressed to other intermediaries, including CDNs and reverse proxies, which are not subject to the DSA rules on notices. In this context, the assessment underlines that cooperation agreements have led to a better and quicker response by the relevant intermediaries.”

The assessment also highlights tension between protection from liability for intermediaries and the demand for more effective responses to piracy. Intermediaries are not required by law to proactively police illegal content, but the assessment nevertheless implies that even within existing legal frameworks, going beyond current obligations would make a significant difference.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.