the sports sector loses 290 million euros per year, according to Arcom, which is concerned about the progression of IPTV

In a press conference on Thursday, the audiovisual regulator sounded the alarm regarding the resurgence of piracy at sporting events in 2024.

The loss of income due to the illicit broadcast of matches is estimated at 290 million euros per year for the sports sector, Arcom, the audiovisual regulator, announced on Thursday, November 28. “This amount represents 15% of the sports content broadcasting market and affects the entire sector, clubs, federations (…) and amateur sport”detailed Pauline Combredet-Blassel, deputy general director of Arcom, during a conference in Paris.

Arcom is especially concerned about the progression of IPTV, these connected boxes which provide access to a bouquet of channels for a much lower subscription than the legal offer. According to Pauline Combredet-Blassel, this pirate content also represents a shortfall of 420 million per year for the State in terms of social and tax revenue. “We have blocked more than 1,600 since the start of 2024, but the question is whether this will be enough”asked the manager, referring to a “major issue”.

At his side, Benjamin Morel, general director of LFP Media, commercial subsidiary of the Professional Football League (LFP), was very alarmist. “Since the start of the 2024-2025 season, we have been facing a phenomenon of unprecedented scale”he said, citing an Ipsos study according to which 37% of people who watched Ligue 1 this season did so illegally. According to this survey, 55% of spectators at the OM-PSG Classic at the end of October used illegal sources.

Representing the League, Benjamin Morel tried to counter the argument according to which the legal offer from the main broadcaster of Ligue 1, DAZN, controversial because of its high initial cost since revised downwards, could have created a call for air. “Tariffs cannot in any way justify piracy, which is theft”he said, explaining the success of the boxes by its offer “all inclusive”while the legal broadcasting offer for European championships is distributed between several broadcasters.

Arcom, however, is pleased that “piracy is falling structurally”in particular thanks to the blocking of “live streaming” sites whose number of users fell in France by 18% between 2023 and 2024. More than 7,000 illegal domain names have also been blocked by 2022.