Live Content Coalition
LCC
The Live Content Coalition is a group of representatives of leading European live content producers, broadcasters, and exhibitors.
ID: 367408398850-82
Lobbying Activity
Response to Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 and Action Plan on Consumers in the Single Market
29 Aug 2025
On behalf of the Live Content Coalition for the Call for Evidence for Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 and action plan on consumers in the Single Market We represent the Live Content Coalition; a group of stakeholders committed to protecting the value and integrity of live content across Europe. Our members rely on a fair and secure digital environment to deliver high-quality live experiences to consumers. In this context, we respectfully urge policymakers to place greater emphasis on the serious and rapidly escalating threat of piracy, particularly the unauthorised retransmission of live events. This form of infringement undermines the sustainability of the creative and sports sectors, distorts competition, and deprives consumers of safe and reliable access to content. Addressing this challenge with urgency is essential to safeguarding Europes cultural and economic interests. Piracy poses significant risks to European consumers. Users of illegal services are routinely exposed to scams, phishing attempts, identity theft, malware infections, and data breaches. It is well-documented that pirate streaming sites frequently host malicious advertising (malvertising), install spyware or ransomware without user consent, or unlawfully harvest personal data. A 2022 study by the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) found that a large proportion of piracy-related domains expose consumers to malware, deceptive advertising and fraudulent payment pagesoften within seconds of access. Unauthorised IPTV subscriptionsmarketed as low-cost alternatives to licensed servicesare often linked to organised criminal groups and offer no consumer guarantees such as refund rights, continuity of service, or reliability. A growing concern for our members is the close association between piracy and the promotion of VPN services. Illegal IPTV and streaming offers are frequently advertised together with VPN subscriptions as a package, explicitly encouraging consumers to bypass territorial licensing frameworks and to disguise unlawful activity. This practice both facilitates copyright circumvention on a large scaleundermining the integrity of the European licensing systemand misleads consumers by presenting piracy as safe or legitimate. In reality, consumers remain exposed to severe cyber risks and stripped of even the most basic consumer rights. Beyond the direct threats to consumers, piracy undermines the European economy and the competitiveness of the EUs cultural and creative sectors. It diverts audiences and revenues away from legitimate services, directly threatening the sustainability of Europes live content industriesfrom sports and concerts to entertainment and cultural events. Unauthorised retransmissions are increasingly facilitated through illegal IPTV, social media channels, and dedicated streaming platforms. These networks are sophisticated, cross-border, and extremely difficult to dismantle. A targeted EU approach to piracy would deliver immediate and tangible benefits for consumers, rightholders, and legitimate service providers, while reinforcing the rule of law in the digital environment. For these reasons, the Live Content Coalition strongly believes that the fight against piracy must be firmly embedded in the future Consumer Agenda. We are at your disposal for further discussions on this critical matter. For more information, please contact: Miruna Herovanu, Executive Director, Audiovisual Antipiracy Alliance miruna@aapa.eu Grégoire Polad, Director General, Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe gp@acte.be Victoria Matthews, Executive Officer, European Arenas - victoria@europeanarenas.com Anita Debaere, Director, Pearle* Live Performance Europe anita@pearle.eu Mark Lichtenhein, Chairman, Sports Rights Owners Coalition markl@europe.com Johannes Studinger, Head, Uni Mei - johannes.studinger@uniglobalunion.org LCC entry in EU Register of Interest Representatives: 367408398850-82
Read full responseResponse to Assessment of the effects of the Recommendation on combating online piracy of sports and other live events
4 Jun 2025
LCC Submission to May 2025 EC Call for Evidence 4 June 2025 The Live Content Coalition (LCC - https://livecontentcoalition.eu - EU Registry of interests nr 3674 08398850-82) is a group of representatives of leading European live content producers, broadcasters, and exhibitors. As representatives of live events, including sports, music concerts and festivals, broadcast television and video on demand services, and tickets sellers, we are all united in the fight to stop piracy. Our coalition has been closely monitoring the effect of the European Commission's Recommendation on combating online piracy of sports and other live events since its adoption on 4 May 2023. To do that effectively, we have been working with the international consultancy Grant Thornton (GT) on data gathering and, unfortunately, our findings suggest that the situation has continued to deteriorate for live events organisers, broadcasters and workers alike in this specific sector between 2023 and 2025. GT's latest analysis was presented on 4 March 2025 at the European Parliament in Brussels and covered the full years data for 2024 and included a comparison with Grant Thorntons previous analysis covering only the first half of 2024. The key findings of this second analysis were the following: 10.8 million takedown notices relating to unauthorised retransmission of live events were submitted to intermediaries. Over 81% of these notices did not result in suspension of the illegal retransmission. Only 2.7% of infringements were acted upon within 30 minutes and 20% took over 120 minutes for action. Dedicated Server Providers received more notices requesting the suspension of retransmissions than Online Platforms and other hosting providers combined, accounting for 52% of all notices submitted across 2024. 89% of these notices did not lead to suspension of the illegal retransmission. In other words, the latest GP report (attached to this short submission) shows that piracy of live content is continuing at pace in Europe in spite of the Recommendation. European broadcasters, sports leagues and other players in the live events environment work tirelessly to protect content from theft. Current measures are clearly not working, whilst technological advances are making piracy easier and more lucrative than ever for criminals. We once again call on the European Commission, if it is serious about tackling online piracy of live content, to go one step further and propose to clarify that expeditious removal means immediately and in any case before the live event terminates, when it comes to live content. The LCC would like to recall that in the Ecatel Case, back in 2018, the Judge found that 30 minutes was long enough for a DSP such as Ecatel to respond to the notice sent and take down the infringing content. The judge also concluded that Intermediaries are best placed to act, that it is not overly complex or costly and that it does not prejudice freedom of enterprise. Organised crime remains the sole beneficiary of this legislative inaction, and it is imperative that we protect the survival of the live events sector in Europe. Yours sincerely, The Live Content Coalition
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