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Foxtel prepares to shut down illegal streaming of Jeff Horn and Terence Crawford boxing match

Subscription television provider Foxtel is getting ready to protect its pay-per-view boxing match between Jeff Horn and Terence Crawford – which will be broadcast at 10am on Sunday – and has warned would-be pirates they face fines of up to $60,000 and five years in jail.

Foxtel has partnered with social media providers to surveil, track and shut down unsanctioned broadcasts. Foxtel subscribers can pay an additional $49.95 to watch the match legally.

Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany – who was previously CEO of Fox Sports before taking the helm of the parent company in a management shake up – urged consumers to remember who they would be hurting by illegally watching the match.

“We will act if we discover piracy, but I would urge any people inclined to do this to think hard about who they are really hurting with their actions,” The Daily Telegraph and news.com.au reported him as saying.

“It’s not just Foxtel, but more importantly, it’s people like Jeff Horn. The reality is broadcast revenues from sport… is one of the main ways promoters are able to fund such great events and give champions like Horn the opportunity to take on the best in the world.”

Facebook and Twitter confirmed they will shut down illegal streams.

Foxtel faced a similar issue in February last year, when its vision of a boxing clash between Anthony Mundine and Danny Green was live-streamed on Facebook.

It also signalled its intentions to use more advanced technologies to fight the problem in the lead-up to the Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight. 

“Facebook takes intellectual property rights seriously,” a Facebook spokesperson told Mumbrella at the time. “We have robust measures in place to help protect intellectual property rights including reporting tools, IP policies, Audible Magic and Rights Manager.”

Part of the Rights Manager toolkit includes a reference library where rights holders can place reference material to expedite shut-down requests.

“We check every Facebook Live video stream against files in the Rights Manager reference library, and if a match surfaces, we’ll interrupt that live video,” the Facebook spokesperson said.

“Video publishers and media companies can also provide reference streams of live content so that we can check live video on Facebook against those reference streams in real time. We are working closely with Foxtel to help them protect their rights with respect to the fight on our services.”

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