The EPL drama – paving the way for more illegal streaming? Digital piracy of live sports broadcasts in Singapore

Abstract

Along with the rise of digital media technologies, digitisation disrupted and reconfigured the established practices of previously discrete media markets. The erosion of conventional media divisions has resulted in wide-ranging ramifications for sports broadcasts as it shifts from the historically dominant platform of broadcast television to the digital environment of the Internet in the new mediascape. This paper considers how these emergent practices from the advent of media technology have represented significant challenges to the mediascape of sports broadcasts in Singapore. Given the popularity of mediated Western sports in Singapore, it comes as no surprise that the challenge of sports broadcasts piracy is acute in the country. Singapore has an exceedingly high degree of online infringement compared to other countries in the region. Data discloses that Singapore’s per capita infringement ranks first in Asia and fifth highest globally. This paper seeks to review the phenomenon in Singapore, examining the drivers that created the unique market dynamics which shaped the piracy of sports broadcasts in the country. The paper goes on to discuss provisions in Singapore in terms of copyright law and enforcement that are in place for the deterrence of sports broadcasts piracy. It considers the adequacy of these current approaches and concludes with an observation of how Singapore will seek to adjust to the continual digital advancement in its battle against digital sports piracy. The outcome of this assessment helps provide an additional account for its comparison with existing discourse on the challenges of digitisation on sports broadcasts development in advanced capitalist Asian countries.

Keywords:

• Singapore
• English Premier League
• piracy
• sports broadcasts

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. As a newcomer to the pay-TV industry, SingTel was offering EPL on an exclusive premium content basis at a heavily subsidised rate in order to grow its subscriber base. Under the MDA cross-carriage ruling, it would have to do so for Starhub subscribers as well.

2. Both local pay-TV providers (Starhub and SingTel) are majority owned by the Temasek Holdings – an investing arm of the Singapore Government.

3. All of Singapore’s households have some form of high speed broadband Internet access, which is one of the highest in Asia (Paul Budde, 2013).

4. The Special 301 Report is prepared annually by the USTR under Section 301 provision of the Trade Act of 1974. The reports identify trade barriers to US companies and products due to the intellectual property laws, such as copyright, patents and trademarks, in other countries. Each year, the USTR will identify countries which do not provide ‘adequate and effective’ protection of intellectual property rights or ‘fair and equitable market access to United States persons that rely upon intellectual property rights’ (USTR, 2012, p. 24).

5. The Singapore Parliament has since passed an antipiracy amendment to its Copyright Act in July 2014, which aims to block ‘flagrantly infringing online location’ such as The Pirate Bay. However, the practical aspects of the implementation of the new law remain vague (Zhang, 2014).

6. For instance, the Sports Rights Owners Coalition (SROC) has been set up by sports organisations in their combat against digital sport piracy. Alongside SROC is the Copyright Integrity International (CII), a private consultancy hired by several national and international cricket governing bodies to deal with illegal streams (Hutchins & Rowe, 2013).

7. For example, the EPL, despite reporting combined club annual revenue of over £2 billion annually, has called for UK Government’s assistance in convincing Internet users that piracy is not a ‘victimless crime’ (McCullagh, 2009).

8. One of the criteria asks ‘whether the programme involves major international sporting events, international sporting events in which a Singapore team or personality is participating, or significant local sporting events’ (paragraph 2.6.1.3, MDA, 2010).

9. It draws reference to ‘material that is objectionable on the grounds of public interest, public morality, public order, public security, national harmony, or is otherwise prohibited by applicable Singapore laws’ (MDA, 2014).