Stop watching PPV streams, you bum
 

Feds in NY pull plug on pirated sports broadcasts

The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 2, 2011; 5:14 PM
NEW YORK -- Federal authorities on Wednesday moved to short-circuit 10 websites accused of stealing and streaming a large menu of live TV broadcasts, including NFL games and pay-per-view events produced by World Wrestling Entertainment.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were executing warrants based on a federal court order unsealed Wednesday in Manhattan. The warrants direct Internet domain gatekeepers to disrupt the sites while the agents try to identify operators and charge them with copyright infringement.

The crackdown was intended "to send a clear message to website operators who mistakenly believe it's worth the risk to take copyrighted programming and portray it as their own," ICE Director John T. Morton said in a statement.

Court papers cited several instances in recent weeks when the sites offered links to WWE "TLC" - tables, ladders and chairs - matches and Ultimate Fighting Championship events. Users also could click on live NFL, NBA and NHL games from across the nation.

The pirated streaming has allowed "unauthorized viewers to watch live events in the same quality and with the same ease as those who lawfully purchased the content through pay-per-view," the papers say.

Authorities estimate the sites have cost sports leagues and networks millions of dollars in lost revenue. Court papers say broadcasters have failed in efforts to fight back by monitoring the "rampant acts of theft" and demanding they stop - an expense passed on to sports fans through higher ticket and pay-per-view prices.

Website operators take the material by hacking directly into legitimate Internet streams and cable broadcasts - or sometimes just by pointing a video camera at a television and uploading the picture. The sites make money by selling ads or charging nominal membership fees.

On Wednesday, a notice on one of the websites, channelsurfing.net, told users that it was "seized today by homeland security." It also had a link for a news story about the case.

A reader commented: "Somebody please tell me where I can watch today's Laker game."

Thats like shooting a tank with an arrow.

Stream sites are everywhere and move so fast, I already read that a bunch re-opened only a few hours later under different names... the internet is like light speed compared to everything else.

Looks like ATDHE.net was one of the casualties.

wait, watching football games online is illegal? LOLWUT

one goes down 5 pop up

Damnit!

:-\

atdhenet.tv

YOU CANT BEAT THE INTERNET!!!!

Until I snitch for reward money...

Good news but I would want to keep information like that on the down low :wtf:

well shit

you're as colllllllllllllllllllllllld as ICE

I saw that on the channelsurfing site, don't use it anymore anyway but was still weird. They're in the shit now that's for sure!

How much we talking about?:shifty:

God damn.

firstrow.net is another one. Now I have no way of watching Raw. :(

It looks like it's back to Justin.tv for me.

Also....

I don't think the sites were saying that WWE shows and so on were their own. They weren't claiming they owned the WWE or that they were showing their own companies PPV or whatever. They clearly stated that they were showing streams of "WWE Raw" and "WWE Royal Rumble" etc. :-\

A LOT of them had copyright tickers saying "If you are watching this on another site other than douchebags.com, you are violating copyright" which always make me laugh.

PPV events I get, but this "loss of revenue" argument doesn't fly in all instances.

Also, don't they know calling attention to it will just make it worse?

I don't think they account for people who aren't able to watch something like RAW in its desegnated timeslot because they may be otherwise occupied (like working) or be somewhere where their signal provider doesn't air said show, or even the station that show is on!

I'm usually at one of my jobs during every wrestling show in the week, except the local weekend repeat of Superstars. Watching it online after someone posts it is my way of even seeing it at all.

Not during Wrestlemania season... :'(

Fake ass badge.

Sure glad I still have PW Torrents. :cool:

Somewhere, Destro 2.0 is having a party.

Live stream sites are like porn sites. Numerous in numbers and never truly be "shut down".

the amount of money collected from the fines would pale in comparison to the money needed to persecute all parties involved. So yea, this is never really gonna stop.

The math is prolly X=Y where
X: # of people who streamed event Z
Y: # of additional people who would've purchased event Z had the stream not been available.

It's pure bullshit math of course! They might aswell just use the numbers to demand additional cash from the sponsors they plug during the show :)

Directv charges like $400 a year or $50 a weekend for Sunday Ticket, so I suppose they have a interest in shutting down football streams if it means they can get people to sign up for Directv or the internet package.

Nah Man, Nah.