From PC World: Illegal sports TV streams are popular all around the world—so much so that they’re among the most popular IPTV offerings alongside classic streaming content from Netflix, Prime Video, etc. Unsurprisingly, these streams are also a huge thorn in the sides of authorities.
But yesterday, sports piracy took a huge blow after Egyptian police successfully took down Streameast, the largest known provider of illegal sports streaming content. According to the US-based Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), Streameast (and its 80+ related domains) were recently taken offline.
With around 1.6 billion visitors per year and content offerings from around the globe—including Champions League matches to Formula 1 races to MMA fights to other sports like the NFL, NBA, and NHL—Streameast was the most iconic provider of pirated sports streams.
The operators of Streameast were reportedly tracked down in a large-scale operation on August 24th. Two men from Cairo, who were arrested by police, were apparently responsible for running the sites and have been operating for around 15 years. They also apparently invested a large part of their income in bogus companies and property. It isn’t yet known whether revenue from the streaming portals or material assets were confiscated in the process.
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