Premier League shuts down illegal streaming site popular with expats in Thailand

[webfact]

Premier League shuts down illegal streaming site popular with expats in Thailand

Image: The Premier League

The Premier League has helped to shut down an illegal streaming site used by tens of millions people around the world.

Mobdro, the world's largest pirate streaming app and which was popular with expats in Thailand, has been taken offline following an investigation and criminal referral by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) and the English Premier League, the league said on Thursday.

In a statement, the Premier League said Mobdro illegally streamed video content, including sports, from around the world on smart televisions, smartphones, tablets and other devices.

ACE, a coalition of around 30 global entertainment companies and film studios aimed at tackling online piracy, led the investigation along with the Premier League which resulted in law enforcement action by Spanish police and Europol.

"Mobdro's criminal enterprise amounted to long-running and large-scale theft," Premier League Director of Legal Services Kevin Plumb said in the league statement on Thursday.

"These raids show we and ACE are committed to taking action against piracy.

"The protection of our copyright is hugely important to the Premier League and our broadcast partners, as well as the future health of English football."

The Premier League has long battled illegal streaming of its content.

In January 2019, it opened its first international office in Singapore in a bid to help tackle illegal streaming in Southeast Asia, much of which originates in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand.

Later that year, the Premier League helped shut down ThaiexpatTV, an illegal streaming website, the bulk of which was operated from Thailand.

Following the closure of ThaiexpatTV, the site’s operators  - a Briton and a Thai national - were  ordered to pay  what is understood to be one of the highest ever fines for copyright infringement in Thailand. 

In addition to being given suspended prison sentences, the pair were ordered to pay damages totalling THB15million (about £385,000) at a court hearing in Bangkok.

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2021-03-12

 

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[Nong Khai Man]

Just pay 299 Baht a Month to Truevisions & You can watch ALL the Premier League Matches, If Yer Can't Afford 299 Baht a MONTH Then You Shouldn't Be HERE !!!

[Frank Abegnale]

Cut off one head, three more grow back in its place.

Hail hydra!

[Andrew65]

Understandable, TV rights for the EPL cost £750 million pr annum. Part of why it was so important that last season was completed.

[RichardColeman]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

In addition to being given suspended prison sentences, the pair were ordered to pay damages totalling THB15million (about £385,000) at a court hearing in Bangkok.

Wonder how much the PL got ?

[MikeN]

3 hours ago, Nong Khai Man said:

Just pay 299 Baht a Month to Truevisions & You can watch ALL the Premier League Matches, If Yer Can't Afford 299 Baht a MONTH Then You Shouldn't Be HERE !!!

That's fine if (heaven forbid) you only want to watch soccer, but Mobdro also enabled people to see lots of other sports. I used to use it to watch the cycling as even the big races such as Le Tour were rarely available legally. Thankfully there is GCN+ now so just about every cycle race covered by television is available legally now.

[ukrules]

22 minutes ago, MikeN said:

Mobdro also enabled people to see lots of other sports. I used to use it to watch the cycling as even the big races such as Le Tour were rarely available legally.

Not legally via 'madbro'.

You would be surprised at the lengths TV channels will go to when protecting content.

 

[sammieuk1]

Whack a mole on my android tab one goes west another pops up ????

[Bluespunk]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The Premier League has helped to shut down an illegal streaming site used by tens of millions people around the world.

Mobdro, the world's largest pirate streaming app and which was popular with expats in Thailand, has been taken offline following an investigation and criminal referral by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) and the English Premier League, the league said on Thursday.

 

Fair enough. 

[mrmicbkktxl]

I would happily pay but where i can watch PL,Bundesliga,LA LIGA,Seria a and french league?Even in Europe you would need 2-3 different services and here in Thailand it's just impossible to watch that unless you use an illegal service

[Deli]

Cut salaries in the EPL and lower costs of rights. Easy as that

[chilly07]

Doo football provide an excellent service but with occasional streaming problems. I cancelled Trues football package as I already get EPL games from Tiphanee. 

[WorriedNoodle]

17 minutes ago, chilly07 said:

I already get EPL games from Tiphanee. 

Who is she?

[nickmondo]

There are plenty of alternative.

Im not going to share the name of the one I use, but its fantastic. (dont want its name being in the spotlight)

but if it did get shut down, there will be another, and another, and another.

i only use these apps for football, all the other sports I want, I can get legally here in Thailand.

[Bangkok Barry]

I find it odd that so many tv companies spend millions on producing programmes and then block you from seeing them. All it does is cost them worldwide revenue and encourage piracy.

First, we had Napster which made the music industry wake up and offer music legally on-line, and now it's a massive business. Then we had DVDs that you paid for and then could only play in restricted parts of the world. So, people made them available on torrents for free. Now we have IPTV, pirated feeds, as the tv companies can't organise themselves to tap a worldwide market. The pirates can, but the billion dollar tv companies can't.

Just imagine how many expats around the world, and others just interested in their content, that could subscribe if the companies got their act together. And think of the money they'd save not having to play cat and mouse with those providing the service that they refuse to.

[nahkit]

1 hour ago, mrmicbkktxl said:

I would happily pay but where i can watch PL,Bundesliga,LA LIGA,Seria a and french league?Even in Europe you would need 2-3 different services and here in Thailand it's just impossible to watch that unless you use an illegal service

You can watch La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 on your phone or tablet via the Bein Sports app, along with MLS and the FA Cup for less than 600 baht - that's 600 baht a year, not a month.

 

[fasteddie]

RIP Mobdro long live the rest of them.

[cyril sneer]

Interested to know if anyone managed a full football game without crashing/buffering

[mrmicbkktxl]

42 minutes ago, nahkit said:

You can watch La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 on your phone or tablet via the Bein Sports app, along with MLS and the FA Cup for less than 600 baht - that's 600 baht a year, not a month.

 

Yes I'm using that still EPL and Bundesliga missing,so I need true for EPL,and for Bundesliga I don't know.It All that tv rights is a pain in the a...They should stop all that geoblocking.I think a lot of expats would pay for a service if they could subscribe to it.Like someone else said the pirate companies have no problem to do so

[bermondburi]

Big deal. I must have about 6 apps on my phone for watching football. And not just the Premier league, a lot of Championship games, CL and EL, plus all the other European league games if I so wanted. 

They'll never stop it. 

[sungod]

I have great internet connection and a very good box. Is it just me, or are these free streaming apps tosh? All I got from mobdro and such like were poor quality SD picture and buffering.  I'd rather (and do) pay for a good service.

[bermondburi]

16 minutes ago, sungod said:

I have great internet connection and a very good box. Is it just me, or are these free streaming apps tosh? All I got from mobdro and such like were poor quality SD picture and buffering.  I'd rather (and do) pay for a good service.

It's just you. I get great HD quality for any game I want. 

 

I would add though that I gave up on websites for the reasons you mention, but now just use an app on my phone and project onto my TV. 

[NoshowJones]

23 hours ago, Nong Khai Man said:

Just pay 299 Baht a Month to Truevisions & You can watch ALL the Premier League Matches, If Yer Can't Afford 299 Baht a MONTH Then You Shouldn't Be HERE !!!

What about Scottish premier league matches?

[Bredbury Blue]

21 hours ago, MikeN said:

That's fine if (heaven forbid) you only want to watch soccer, but Mobdro also enabled people to see lots of other sports. I used to use it to watch the cycling as even the big races such as Le Tour were rarely available legally. Thankfully there is GCN+ now so just about every cycle race covered by television is available legally now.

I used to use Mobdro for watching the Tour de France. Found Mobdro to be poor, always buffering, so I'd continually be changing channels to follow it (think I'd typically use Eurosport, Channel 4 and a USA channel).

I watch all of GCN YouTube videos, which are great, so how is GCN+? Worth getting? How much is it?

[JaiMaai]

On 3/13/2021 at 10:35 AM, possum1931 said:

What about Scottish premier league matches?

On BEIN sports.

The main channels carry the occasional "big" games.  Most of them are on the Xtra channels which are Internet only, through the website or apps on phones/smart TVs.

 

https://connect-th.beinsports.com/en

[robblok]

On 3/12/2021 at 5:52 PM, Bangkok Barry said:

I find it odd that so many tv companies spend millions on producing programmes and then block you from seeing them. All it does is cost them worldwide revenue and encourage piracy.

First, we had Napster which made the music industry wake up and offer music legally on-line, and now it's a massive business. Then we had DVDs that you paid for and then could only play in restricted parts of the world. So, people made them available on torrents for free. Now we have IPTV, pirated feeds, as the tv companies can't organise themselves to tap a worldwide market. The pirates can, but the billion dollar tv companies can't.

Just imagine how many expats around the world, and others just interested in their content, that could subscribe if the companies got their act together. And think of the money they'd save not having to play cat and mouse with those providing the service that they refuse to.

Because of napster we have spotify and others. I don't mind paying for my music. For TV there is Netflix. Sure its never full proof and I still download stuff (bad guy i know) but i would pay more. However so many providers and shows are splintered so its hard to get it all.

Now if they made a netflix for sports that would be huge (not for me but for guys who like sports). I mean im sure people would want to pay a bit for it.

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

I’m a TrueMove customer for my prepaid phone service, and use their TrueID app to watch some free streaming TV channels. Around the Chinese New Year they sent me a coupon to get the final four months of the PL for 888 baht. Then I used some of my True Points, and got this down to under 200 baht a month. My phone has HDMI out, and thus I put it on the TV. Quality is rather good.

[grandpa]

On 3/12/2021 at 11:33 AM, Nong Khai Man said:

Just pay 299 Baht a Month to Truevisions & You can watch ALL the Premier League Matches, If Yer Can't Afford 299 Baht a MONTH Then You Shouldn't Be HERE !!!

Who do you think you are to dictate peoples limited budget! It might not be much to you, but it is a day's wage to some people.  Wind your neck in!