DAZN Battles Surge in Ligue 1 Piracy as Illegal Streams from Morocco Threaten Viewership

While DAZN announced that it was aiming for 1.5 million "legal" subscribers, piracy on the first day of Ligue 1 exploded. As proof, the number of viewers who followed the opening of the 2024-2025 season in a diverted way via Telegram, IPTV or even a VPN would have reached one million, reports Le Parisien. DAZN and the Professional Football League (LFP) are having enormous difficulties in eradicating the phenomenon. It is difficult for him to block Telegram. "We have a discussion group with Telegram. We notify them of the illegal channels we have spotted on the platform. Then it’s up to Telegram’s moderators to close the streaming channels," details a cybersecurity company that collaborates with several entities in the world of sport. But the collaboration proves ineffective. "The problem is that at the time of Telegram’s first alert, the pirate knows he has been spotted. He has time to create a new streaming link and we start from scratch. It’s endless," warns Hervé Lemaire, CEO of LeakID (Forward group), a SME specializing in the protection of rights holders such as the Premier League. Telegram is not at all cooperative. " And to add: "We have to go through this discussion channel. We have no direct contact with the moderators or even a Telegram employee. Until we have close collaboration with them, the problem will not be solved."

Eradicating the IPTV service is also a complicated mission. "IPTV take longer to block, because we have to find the original server which is generally located abroad," specifies the CEO of MyMedia Agency, a cybersecurity company. Mohammed Boumediane, CEO of the company Ziwit, one of the leaders in the cybersecurity market, shares this opinion: "As long as we don’t cut the problem at the source by closing the servers in Morocco or the Middle East, IPTV vendors will continue to operate." The closure of an IPTV service involves a first request to the judge then the definitive blocking by the Arcom (Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority) of access. "Since this procedure was put in place in November 2022, 513 IPTV services have been blocked and sports piracy has decreased by 27%," the Arcom indicates. Since August 2, the Paris judicial court is ordering Internet service providers (ISPs) to now prevent access to IPTV services illegally broadcasting Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches. This injunction has borne fruit. This made it possible to "implement blocking measures from the first day. Until then, it had not been possible to implement them before the 7th day of the championship," the Professional Football League nevertheless rejoiced in the French newspaper.

A hope that will nevertheless be dashed by VPN, the new danger. Thanks to VPN, a private network that allows you to locate yourself in another country, Ligue 1 whose broadcasting rights have been acquired by the Brazilian channel Cazé TV in Brazil for the 2024-2027 period is accessible on YouTube from France. Moreover, many French people were able to enjoy it last weekend. "Using a VPN to consume content that is not available in your country is perfectly illegal!" Hervé Lemaire, CEO of Leak ID, firmly states. But there is almost no possibility to fight against this illegal practice, because the YouTube platform does not offer any option to administrators of channels to detect or block users using VPNs. "Using a VPN, the French fan connects via a Brazilian IP address (digital identification label) to access this YouTube channel. It is therefore very difficult to differentiate it from a Brazilian viewer," explains Hervé Lemaire. Fighting this method will be very difficult. LFP and DAZN therefore have their work cut out for them.