The new football season is just over a couple of weeks away and you know what that means? People flooding Twitter requesting good Kodi streams for live games.
However, a new ruling in favour of the Premier League could make finding those illegal streams a lot more difficult.
The High Court has awarded a blocking order which will compel UK internet service providers to tackle the streams head on.
It will also enable the Premier League to combat the sale of low-cost, low-powered ‘loaded’ Kodi boxes that make it easier to access streams.
Related: Is Kodi legal?
The ruling is essentially a renewal of the one awarded to the Premier League in March 2017, as it seeks to safeguard the £5 billion bounty it received from BT and Sky for exclusive coverage.
Before that, the league had only been able to block individual streams, all while new streams popped up to replace them. The order enables the league to go after the servers hosting the streams.
“This blocking order is a game-changer in our efforts to tackle the supply and use of illicit streams of our content,” said Premier League Director of Legal Services, Kevin Plumb (via BBC).
“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’.
“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.”
The order comes following a BBC 5 Live poll that found half of the 1,000 fans surveyed have watched unofficial streams online.
Kodi itself continues to disavow those using its free, legal software for illicit means.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
