US prosecutors seized 16 websites that illegally stream live sports and pay-per-view events, and charged a man with running nine of them, ahead of the American football NFL Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday.
The websites provide links to other sites hosting pirate streams of matches from the NFL, basketball league the NBA, ice hockey league the NHL, and wrestling events organised by World Wrestling Entertainment and TNA Impact Wrestling.
The prosecutors said such piracy costs leagues and broadcasters millions of dollars per year, some of which is passed on to ticket buyers and sports pay-television subscribers. “These websites and their operators deprive sports leagues and networks of legitimate revenue” in what amounts to “virtual thievery,” US Attorney Preet Bharara said, according to Reuters.
The man charged in the case, Yonjo Quiroa, 28, of Michigan, faces one count of criminal infringement of a copyright.
The prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of the domain names for the 16 seized websites, which are: firstrow.tv, firstrowsports.com, firstrowsports.net, firstrowsports.tv, hq-streams.tv, robplay.tv, soccertvlive.net, sports95.com, sports95.net, sports95.org, sportswwe.net, sportswwe.tv, sportswwe.com, xonesports.tv, youwwe.com and youwwe.net.
The US government seized 10 websites that were said to be giving access to pirate coverage of sports events ahead of last year’s Super Bowl.