Premier League Kodi Box streaming 'blocking order'

Premier League Kodi Box streaming 'blocking order'

The High Court has issued a 'blocking order' that will cut off online streams for people who are illegally watching Premier League football matches.

It comes after the Premier League was awarded a High Court blocking order for the forthcoming 2017-18 season.

Dubbed the 'biggest ever crackdown' on illegal streaming, the order will help the league intensify its crackdown on the illicit use of pre-loaded Kodi boxes and other illegal devices. 

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Dubbed the 'biggest ever crackdown' on illegal streaming, the block will be in place for the 2017 - 2018 Premier League season and will fight the illegal use of Kodi boxes (stock image)

WHAT IS KODI TV?

Kodi is a free service that streams apps and on-demand services onto your TV.

The software, which is legal, can even be downloaded onto an Amazon Fire stick.

Blank boxes can be bought from most major retailers for as little as £20 ($24), with the software uploaded afterwards.

Users can play BBC iPlayer, Youtube, Soundcloud and other free catch -up apps on the device.  

But many of the plug-ins the box offers are illegal.

Be wary if the box is pre-loaded to include subscription sport, TV and movies for free.

Commonly the 'fully loaded' boxes let users watch Premier League games or Sky Movies without paying a subscription fee.  

'This blocking order is a game-changer in our efforts to tackle the supply and use of illicit streams of our content', Premier League Director of Legal Services, Kevin Plumb told BBC.

The order means UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will have to stop people illegally streaming matches. 

In the UK, you can only watch Premier League games legally on Sky Sports and BT Sport. Highlights can be seen on BBC Sport. 

'It will allow us to quickly and effectively block and disrupt the illegal broadcast of Premier League football via any means, including so called 'pre-loaded Kodi boxes', Mr Plumb said.

'The protection of our copyright, and the investment made by our broadcast partners, is hugely important to the Premier League and the future health of English football.'

In the 2016-17 season the Premier League obtained a similar order for the last two months of the season.

The court order allowed Premier League bosses to blanket block internet servers.

Around 5,000 server IP addresses were blocked as a result. 

The league previously only had the power to block individual streams, which were easy for hosts to re-establish using a different link. 

Sky and BT Sport paid more than £5bn ($6.6bn) for rights to show Premier Le ague matches for three seasons. 

Last month Premier League bosses were debating whether to livestream games directly in a bid to end illegal streams, rumours suggested.

As many as a third of football fans watch the sport illegally, with many streaming games via illicit websites or through prohibited add-ons to so-called Kodi boxes (pictured)

Organisers were considering whether streaming matches in the US and UK would significantly cut the value of its multi-billion-pound TV deals, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

As many as a third of football fans watch the sport illegally, with many streaming games via illicit websites or through prohibited add-ons to so-called Kodi boxes.

Kodi is a free service that streams apps and on-demand services onto your TV.

Chelsea celebrate winning the Premier League Trophy at Stamford Bridge on May 21, 2017. The Premier League was awarded a High Court blocking order against illegal streaming for the 2017-18 season

The software, which is legal, can even be downloaded onto an Amazon Fire stick.

Commonly the 'fully loaded' boxes let users watch Premier League games or Sky Movies without paying a subscription fee.

While rights fees for matches are soaring, viewing figures for sports broadcasters such as Sky and NBC are plummeting.

Last season saw the biggest fall in live Premier League TV viewing figures for seven years, with both Sky and BT hit by the drop.

Sky saw a 14 per cent fall in viewing numbers, while BT channels dropped by 2 per cent.

WATCHING THE PREMIER LEAGUE 

Sky Sports and BT Sport have between them shelled out £5.36billion ($7billion) to show live coverage of the English premier league. 

The 2016 season was the first to move the broadcasters as part of a three-year mega-deal.

BBC Sport continues to show highlights only of the top flight matches. 

BT Sport currently shows 42 exclusive live games per season.

This includes a number of 'top pick' matches between bigger clubs, like Manchester United and Chelsea. 

Sky Sports shows 126 matches per season, three-quarters of all the Premier League matches broadcast live on TV in the UK.

Various package deals are available for both services. 

How to pay less for your sports TV package

Thanks to a recent Sky Sports  revamp you can now choose single sports channels on Sky, including one dedicated to the Premier League.

You will pay £18 per month for one channel, you get two for £22 or 3 for £26. The full 10-channel package typically costs £27.50, but there is currently a promotion offering it for £20. 

The best value deal currently available from Sky at £72 per month (£39.95 set-up ) is the Original TV Bundle with Unlimited Broadband and Sky Sports. 

BT broadband customers can add BT Sport to their Sky package from £10 ($13) per month or £22.99 ($30) if they don't have broadband through BT.

It costs £3.50 to add BT Sport TV to it's own package via the Starter TV kit with BT Sport. Bundled together with broadband and phone you will pay from £29.99 (£59.99 set up fee).

If you want to add Sky Sport to a BT package it will cost you £27.50 per month for the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Extra channels.  

Virgin Media, Talk Talk and PlusNet are among other service providers who also offer these channels as option extras. 

Talk Talk is currently offering the cheapes t way to access the new Sky Sports Line up at just £28.50 per month for its TV with Faster Broadband and Sky Sports package. 

Find the best deal for you: Use your postcode to search for the best broadband, TV and sports package using This is Money and the MailOnline's   carefully chose partner service, Broadband Choices

 

 

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