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FA and tv chiefs declare war on Justin TV


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FURIOUS FA and TV chiefs have declared war on an American website which is screening live top-flight English matches for FREE.

The Premier League are threatening legal action against San Francisco-based video- streaming portal Justin.tv

Thousands of fans are logging on to the site, co-founded by 24-year-old Yale graduate Justin Kan, to avoid paying subscriptions to British TV companies Sky and Setanta, which hold the exclusive UK rights to show live Premier League matches.

Yesterday, ???? viewers logged on to watch the games between ?? and ??, while ??? watched the ??? v ??? match — despite neither being broadcast in this country.

Last Wednesday, only Arsenal’s incredible 4-4 draw with Tottenham was broadcast live in England. Yet, by simply logging on to www.justin.tv fans could watch Manchester United’s 2-0 triumph over West Ham, Chelsea’s 3-0 win at Hull, Fulham’s 2-0 win over Wigan and the Emirates eight-goal thriller — all LIVE.

Not surprisingly, the United game was most viewed, with 167,138 hits, while the Arsenal-Spurs showdown boasted 148,063 viewers.

Premier League spokesman Dan Johnson insisted: “We are in contact with this site and their lawyers and are seeking to prevent any further abuse of our rights.

“The streaming of live Premier League matches without permission is not only illegal, but also unfair on fans who have paid to go to matches or subscribed to Sky and Setanta.

“Their support means clubs can buy and develop the best players possible and invest in bigger, better and safer grounds.”

England’s 4-1 World Cup qualifying win over Croatia in September was also shown live on Justin.tv — despite the match being broadcast exclusively by Setanta Sports.

Six separate streams were available, with commentary coming from Setanta’s Jon Champion.

The most popular feed saw a peak of 30,819 viewers.

The FA last night confirmed their lawyers will also be sending a legal letter to Justin.tv bosses. An FA spokesman said: “We are aware that websites around the world are seeking to exploit the popularity of English football.

“We take any infringements of our broadcasting rights very seriously and we will be looking at this particular website very carefully.

“We always take action to protect our rights and will do so again in this case.” Justin.tv hit the world stage when Kan strapped a camera to his head and started streaming every moment of his life over the web.

The site, launched in March last year, quickly evolved and now boasts thousands of diverse lifestyle channels, from the breeding of boa constrictors to news from Pakistan.

But the live football streams are by far the most popular area of the site among UK users, especially on a Saturday afternoon when games are unavailable to viewers in this country.

And the concept couldn’t be simpler. Anyone with legal live access of a game can, via a webcam pointed at their TV screen, upload their feed to Justin.tv for the world to watch — illegally.

For instance, last Sunday’s Premier League clash between Chelsea and Liverpool was available live on no fewer than EIGHT different channels on Justin.tv.

And the best quality feed came through one called p2pstation.net, which had uploaded a feed from a user watching South African sports channel Super Sport. The English commentary came from ex-Spurs boss David Pleat and Sky’s Alan Parry.

The channel had no fewer than 574,000 hits with a peak of 19,081 viewers watching at any given time.

British TV companies signed a £2.6BILLION three-year deal with the Premier League in August 2006 to screen football (both live and highlight packages) until 2010.

Sky splashed out £1.3bn and Setanta £392m to secure exclusive live UK rights, while the BBC coughed up £172m and Sky, together with BT, another £84m for British highlights.

And the Premier League also raked in a further £625m by selling overseas rights but Justin.tv did not buy these.

Setanta Sports marketing director Timothy Ryan said: “As rights holders we believe what Justin.tv is doing amounts to piracy. It contravenes the owners’ rights which has implications for us.

“We are working closely with the Premier League and other rights holders to clamp down on piracy such as that represented by Justin.tv.”

Since its launch, the website has added one million users and has racked up more than half a million hours of video — or 62 YEARS — on the site.

Justin.tv’s numbers are stunning: over the last year, over 90,000 channels have been created, more than 24,000 events broadcast and more than 61,000 video clips uploaded from Justin.tv to YouTube.

Justin.tv’s own promotional website wording reads: “Justin.tv is building a destination site for broadcasting and watching live video online while chatting with friends.

“The company’s mission is to enable viewers and broadcasters to interact and exchange ideas in real time through chat and live video.”

And their mission, in their own words, reads: “In the past, live broadcasting was only available to large media corporations who were willing to spend millions of dollars.

Today, Justin.tv has democratised live video by shrinking all of the functionality of an expensive TV satellite trunk into a laptop or desktop computer.”

Justin.tv chief executive officer Michel Seibel refused to comment on the scandal, saying only: “I haven’t got the time to talk to you and you can’t talk to anyone else about this matter.”

It’s not the first time Justin.tv has been in trouble for flouting British law.

The Scottish FA successfully took action against the website after it showed archived Celtic games in breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Illegal broadcasts in pubs and clubs are already reported to cost Sky, Setanta and the football authorities at least £3m a year in lost revenue.

Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney’s uncle John Morrey, 56, was fined £4,000 last October for showing Sky Sports matches illegally at his Liverpool pub, the Old Stanley Arms.

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/5852...OF-THE-DAY.html

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Maybe they should think about the stupid law (or whatever the f--- it is) that stops live football being shown at 3pm on a Saturday.

Its understandable in that they want folk to be at the game and not watching it at 3.

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“The streaming of live Premier League matches without permission is not only illegal, but also unfair on fans who have paid to go to matches or subscribed to Sky and Setanta."

Unfair on other fans? Talk about inventing a situation to give substance to your point. The more people who get to watch and enjoy football, the better.

I hardly even use Justin.tv anyway. There's about 30 other sites that show the games that i want.

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Maybe they should think about the stupid law (or whatever the f--- it is) that stops live football being shown at 3pm on a Saturday.

Its understandable in that they want folk to be at the game and not watching it at 3.

The game on at 12.30 and 5.30 on Saturdays are full. Games on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays are full. Because a games on TV, doesn't mean fans won't turn up.

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My question is how can there only be one live game on Sky for a weekend in England? Over here in Australia on Foxtel I get all the Premier League games live and you can just choose which one you want to watch.

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My question is how can there only be one live game on Sky for a weekend in England? Over here in Australia on Foxtel I get all the Premier League games live and you can just choose which one you want to watch.

It's purely so the only way of watching the match is to attend it. On the Saturday, Sky usually show an early kick off between two rivals/top sides that they know will sell out, even if it is broadcast live.

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“The streaming of live Premier League matches without permission is not only illegal, but also unfair on fans who have paid to go to matches or subscribed to Sky and Setanta."

Unfair on other fans? Talk about inventing a situation to give substance to your point. The more people who get to watch and enjoy football, the better.

I hardly even use Justin.tv anyway. There's about 30 other sites that show the games that i want.

It is a bit ridiculous for them to suggest it's unfair on other fans. I doubt, for example, anyone at Ibrox on a Saturday is thinking 'I can't believe some bastard is watching this at home for free'. I know I never have!

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My question is how can there only be one live game on Sky for a weekend in England? Over here in Australia on Foxtel I get all the Premier League games live and you can just choose which one you want to watch.

It's purely so the only way of watching the match is to attend it. On the Saturday, Sky usually show an early kick off between two rivals/top sides that they know will sell out, even if it is broadcast live.

Oh ok I get it now. They do the same here with local games if it hasn't sold out as well but honestly I don't see why. Nobodies going to go "Oh shit, it's delayed a couple of hours on tv so I'd better go and watch it at the stadium". If they wanted to go they'd be there anyway regardless of whether it was live on tv or not.

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My question is how can there only be one live game on Sky for a weekend in England? Over here in Australia on Foxtel I get all the Premier League games live and you can just choose which one you want to watch.

Same in Italy. Go on to the index, every game from serie A/B, every EPL game and either the Gers or ra scum on once a week In the UK (as usual) were taken for a fuckin ride by the powers that be.

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It really doesn't mean much does it. I enjoy watching games on Justin for the chat function alongside it but if they get stopped I along with most other internet users have plenty of other website to move onto. Pointless fight, only winners are the lawyers.

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never heard of the site but to me the situation is painfully obvious. First they priced a lot of fans out of the grounds, then those same fans are forbidden from watching the game even on the expensive tv package they buy as a substitute. If fans in England can't afford to attend and can't legitimately view the game, they are going to find another way to follow their team. A whole package of measures is needed, not just bitching about free sites.

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