The Spanish Football League (LFP) has joined forces with the country’s Association of Media Agencies, the Mediapro agency and Prisa media company to sign an agreement intended to combat the piracy of Spanish football rights.
The LFP said the signatories have agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of copyright and intellectual property offences in football, and to promote self-regulation by public authorities in favour of copyright and intellectual property.
In addition, the agreement also intends to ensure that advertising investment is limited to media portals, websites and publishers that comply with copyright law in a bid to cut down revenue streams for platforms that provide illegal streams of Spanish football games.
LFP president Javier Tebas said: “If we do not cut piracy, Spanish football will go to ruin. This agreement is a struggle for a commitment not to advertise on the websites that provide football content illegally.”
Tebas and the other stakeholders in the project said the initiative has been formed in a bid to address apparent inaction from the Spanish government to tackle piracy issues.
Tebas added: “We were hopeful the political class would have the awareness to combat this phenomenon, as happens in other European countries, but it has not happened. We have not managed to reform copyright law to oblige telecoms operators to cut the piracy net, something that has happened in other countries.”