beIN Media Group and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) have confirmed the successful closure of nine additional illegal piracy operations by Egyptian law enforcement.
According to beIN, 16 Egyptian police officers were involved in the raids and were supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The raids resulted in the arrest of the two operators and seizure of domains, assets and IT equipment.
It adds that the websites attracted almost 166 million visitors over the past two years across live sports and entertainment programming, providing a common pathway for consumers to illegally view content since 2019. This action builds on ACE and beIN’s collective efforts in the region to tackle illegal theft of content and intellectual property. In June, both groups praised local law enforcement for actions taken to close an additional 18 piracy operations, bringing the total number of illegal sites shut down to 27.
Commenting on the development, Jan van Voorn, executive VP and chief of Global Content Protection for the Motion Picture Association and head of ACE, said: “ACE and beIN are grateful to the Egyptian Minister of Interior, the Assistant Minister for the Specialised Police, and the Director of the General Administration of Works and Intellectual Property Rights for their partnership and engagement in seeing this action through and for acknowledging and prioritising the theft of intellectual property as a serious crime. We look forward to continuing to work together throughout the prosecution of this case.
“ACE and beIN take an extremely active approach to tackling piracy, customising our actions to most effectively combat various piracy methods – in Egypt, across the entire region, and globally.
This is just the beginning of the work we’re going to do together to bring these illegal operations to justice”.
A beIN spokesperson added: “It is hugely encouraging to see continued anti-piracy operations undertaken by our Egyptian colleagues. This is another victory for sports fans, players and clubs of all levels in across the sporting eco-system. beIN is determined to support the fight against broadcast piracy throughout the region to protect leagues and fellow broadcasters. We are pleased to see our partnership with ACE develop, with a great of benefit to be derived by all stakeholders in the sporting world from this shutdown”.
