September 3rd 2014
A 27 year-old man has been arrested in Manchester on suspicion of running a series of illegal sports streaming websites.
He is alleged to be costing industry more than £10million by operating streaming sites that allow unlawful access to subscription-only TV services.
The man was arrested at his home in the North West by The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) – the City of London Police’s specialist intellectual property unit – where detectives found evidence of an industrial size streaming operation, including 12 computer servers streaming a wide range of sporting events from across the world. The equipment has since been seized.
The operation was supported by Greater Manchester Police with the suspect being taken to a local police station for questioning.
Newly appointed Head of PIPCU, DCI Danny Medlycott, said “Today’s operation is the unit’s third arrest in relation to online streaming and sends out a strong message that we are homing in on those who knowingly commit or facilitate online copyright infringement. Not only is there a significant loss to industry with this particular operation but it is also unfair that millions of people work hard to be able to afford to pay for their subscription-only TV services when others cheat the system.”
