Premier League renews super-blocking order: reports

The Premier League and UEFA have renewed their so-called ‘super blocking’ injunctions against illegal football streams ahead of the new season, it has been reported.

According to TorrentFreak, the English High Court renewed the Premier League’s blocking injunction, which requires internet service providers (ISPs) to block illegal streams, on July 15.

No documents or details relating to the latest injunction have yet been published, but according to the report, it will be an extension of the blocking order secured in 2017.

That model allows the Premier League to track pirate streams in real-time during a match and have them blocked by the UK’s leading ISPs.

TBO has contacted British ISPs Sky, TalkTalk, EE, Virgin Media, and BT for comment.

UEFA has also reportedly secured a similar injunction as it seeks to crack down on illegal streaming of its Champions League and Europa League competitions.

The latest Premier League injunction was issued the same day as the Irish High Court granted the country’s first-ever court order against illegal streaming of English football.

The Irish Times named the ISPs subject to the blocking order as Irish company Eircom, as well as the local subsidiaries of Sky, Virgin, and Vodafone.

Similar to the UK injunction, the Irish court order allows the Premier League to identify pirate streams for takedown by ISPs in real-time.

The latest technology advances that enable the ‘super-blocking’ model do not allow for the identification of end-users, the Premier League said at the time.