The Weeknd has teased that the title of the third album in his current trilogy will be unveiled "soon". The 'Double Fantasy' hitmaker - whose real name is Abel Tesfaye - is putting the finishing touches to the follow-up to 2020's 'After Hours' and 2022's 'Dawn FM', and he will be sharing more information about it shortly. He told Variety: "I’m finishing the third part of this saga, of this trilogy. The name of it will come out soon, but it’s not called what some fans think it’s called… what they think it’s called is actually a song on the album, but that’s not what the actual album is called. [It’s unclear which speculative title he’s referring to.] So I’m just gonna say that." The 'Idol' star is currently on his 'After Hours til Dawn Tour', and he's loved performing in the daylight because he can have a more "intimate" connection with his fans. Gig-goers have been sharing videos of Abel, 33, rehearsing different songs for each night of the jaunt whilst they queue outside, as he has been dropping in surprise songs, including deep cuts, when he feels like it. The 'Take My Breath' hitmaker said of the tour: "The performances are mostly in the daytime, so I get to see the audience. It’s easier to connect with their eyes and feels a bit more intimate, so instead of a performance, it feels like more of a conversation with them. Every night I’m changing up the set — I never do that, it’s usually very formulaic — so I’m spicing it up and going into deep, deep, deep cuts and older songs. I’ll rehearse it the day-of, and if the band is down, we’ll just throw a mini-set in there."

Dr. Dre is set to be bestowed with the first-ever Hip-Hop Icon Award at the ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Music Awards' Celebration of 50 Years of Hip-Hop. The 58-year-old music and tech mogul will be recognised for his trailblazing in the genre. ASCAP Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams commented: “Dr. Dre’s groundbreaking early work laid a foundation for Hip-Hop as we know it today. “As a champion for some of today’s biggest artists and a successful entrepreneur, he changed the culture around Hip-Hop. Dre continues to be a pivotal figure in the music industry and we are thrilled to recognise him with the inaugural ASCAP Hip-Hop Icon Award as we mark 50 years of Hip-Hop.” The former co-founder and co-owner of Death Row Records - who started out as a member of World Class Wreckin' Crue in 1985, before finding fame with gangsta rap group N.W.A. - was previously handed ASCAP's Founders Award in 2010. Dre - who co-founded Beats Electronics with Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine - is credited as the pioneer of the West Coast G-funk subgenre of Hip-Hop. West Coast rapper Snoop Dogg became the new owner of Death Row last year. The 51-year-old star shot to fame after appearing on Dre's seminal 1992 LP 'The Chronic', released on the legendary label, which Snoop was signed to himself and went on to put out his debut album, 'Doggystyle', a year later. Dre will be honoured at the ceremony in Los Angeles on Thursday (22.06.23).

With tens of millions of regular monthly visitors, South Korean piracy site Noonoo TV made powerful enemies. The stand-off reached the boiling point in March when broadcasters formed a new anti-piracy coalition and warned of punishing legal action. Noonoo TV responded by throwing in the towel but after clone site 'Noonoo TV Season 2' appeared online, the government says it will develop an AI anti-piracy system that will stop any 'Season 3' variants in their tracks. While nothing stands in the way of a single rightsholder taking on one or more pirate sites, in recent years there has been a noticeable shift towards pooling resources. For the Hollywood studio members of the MPA, anti-piracy teamwork is nothing new, but for other members of the highly successful Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, collaborating with rival companies is likely to be a relatively new concept. In light of the growing threat posed by online piracy and few better options, it’s clearly one they’re happy to explore. In March, South Korean broadcasters, including KBS, MBC and JTBC, the Korea Film and Video Copyright Association (film producers and distributors), plus streaming platforms TVING and Wavve, announced the formation of a similar anti-piracy coalition dedicated to protecting local content. Its connections with ACE are likely to prove invaluable. Noonoo TV in the Crosshairs Under Video Copyright Protection Council (이하 영보협) branding, the coalition’s immediate target was Noonoo TV, a hugely successful pirate streaming site receiving dozens of millions of visits from Koreans every month. At least in theory, an ISP blocking program should’ve prevented that from happening, but Noonoo’s deployment of dozens of new domains meant the campaign couldn’t keep up. Surprisingly, Noonoo’s successful circumvention program was eventually self-terminated – along with the site itself – just a few weeks later. In an April announcement, the site’s operator said that the “outrageous” cost of bandwidth and “pressure on the site from all directions” had culminated in a decision to shut Noonoo down. Around April 14, Noonoo said nighty night for the last time and gave one last piece of advice before turning off the lights. “Please be careful of impersonation sites…” Left in no doubt that any remaining value in the Noonoo brand would be immediately extracted by opportunists, we began monitoring fresh domain registrations when the site went down. These included noonoo.app, noonootv.live, noonoo2023.xyz and noonootorrent.com in April, a whole bunch ending in .click in May, and then a couple more in early June – noonoo.art and noonoo.lol. Initially, just one of these domains showed signs of picking up the baton but then noonoo.lol stepped on the gas and surged into the lead. The site introduced itself as ‘Noonoo TV Season2’ on June 12. It had the same layout, most likely the same or similar content library, but more importantly, the same set of ads that appeared on the original site (screenshot) featuring exactly the same gambling companies. After just four days online, the site was subjected to a large-scale DDOS attack. That was reportedly handled in 30 mins, but the site still wanted to clear something up. “Noonoo TV Season 2 has no connection to the original Noonoo TV,” the site announced. A business address in the site’s footer claimed that a company called Digisn Mowanda was now running the site from an office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Whether anyone plans to pay a personal visit anytime soon is unknown, but it might be best to call ahead first, just in case. Korean Government Not Thrilled By The Resurrection In an announcement dated June 18, the Ministry of Science and ICT said the appearance of ‘Season 2’ warranted a “strong response.” “As the damage caused to the domestic online video service (OTT) industry and others due to the [original] illegal free streaming site ‘Noonoo Tv’ grew day by day, last year the Ministry of Science and ICT, together with the domestic online video service industry, ISPs, and the Radio Association of Korea (RAPA), persistently blocked the illegal service by shortening the frequency; such as once a week, twice a week, and once a day, leading to the termination of Noonoo TV’s service in April,” the statement reads. “The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to actively respond to illegal online video service (OTT) distribution sites such as ‘Noonoo TV Season 2’ based on its experience and capabilities in blocking access to Noonoo TV.” The Ministry says it has already asked the Korea Communications Commission to expedite its decision on the “illegality and copyright infringement of Noonoo TV Season 2” and once that has been received, enhanced blocking measures will be put in place to disrupt the service. “During the response [to the original site], we were able to block access once a day, but this time, we will streamline the response system so that we can block multiple times a day,” the Ministry says. Piracy vs. Artificial Intelligence Alongside a promise to work closely with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Communications Commission, and the National Security Agency to protect ‘K’ content from unlawful distribution, the Ministry of Science says the time is right to enhance manual work carried out by humans with automated systems better suited to the job. “Since the detection and response to illegal sites is currently centered on manual work based on human resources, to overcome this limitation, we plan to develop technology that can automatically detect and verify new versions and substitute sites,” the Ministry said. “Online video service (OTT) content is a precious asset created with the blood and sweat of many people. It’s a growth engine that will be responsible for the future of our country, so it is very important for mature citizens to refrain from using these illegal sites.” Season 2 Ends Prematurely Calls for citizens to act responsibly are not unusual in South Korea and in the right circumstances, can be highly effective too. However, on this occasion a national boycott of ‘Season 2’ will not be required after the following announcement (translated from original). On the Season 2 Telegram channel, the shutdown is yet to be mentioned.

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The US Copyright Claims Board allows rightsholders to file damages claims outside of the federal court system. Since its official launch last year, hundreds of cases have been presented to the board. Typical copyright trolls were noticeably absent and thus far there's been just one award for damages, as the vast majority of all claims are dismissed. Last year, the US Copyright Claims Board went live. Through this Copyright Office-hosted venue, copyright holders can try to recoup alleged damages outside the federal court system. The board aims to make it cheaper for creators to resolve disputes. There’s no attorney required and the filing fee is limited to $100 per claim. Accused parties also benefit as the potential damages are capped at $30,000. Those who prefer traditional lawsuits can choose to opt-out. The benefits of the board are clear to many rightsholders. Opponents, however, feared that the system could be used by opportunistic rightsholders to extract ‘easy money’ from less law-savvy individuals. One Year Anniversary The CCB celebrates its one-year anniversary this month so that presents a good opportunity to take stock of the results achieved thus far. From June 2022 to the end of last year, 281 claims were filed at the CCB, with a further 221 cases filed in the first half of 2023. That means 502 claims were submitted to the Copyright Claims Board in the first twelve months of operation. That’s a significant number, but it doesn’t mean that all of these cases ended with an award for damages. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Recent CCB Claims Our review of CCB dockets indicates just one case where a final verdict was handed down. In February, the board awarded $1,000 to a photographer who discovered that his work was being used on the website of a California-based law practice. The award was significantly lower than the $30,000 initially requested. Dismissals and Opt Outs The vast majority of all cases at the CCB are dismissed or resolved without damages, often due to deficiencies in the filings. A claim against Cloudflare, for example, was not a proper copyright complaint according to the board. Meanwhile, UFC distributor Joe Hand Promotions settled several of its copyright infringement claims against bars and restaurants. These cases were taken off the dockets as well. At the time of writing, 305 cases have been closed. This includes 40 claims where the defendant chose to opt out. A total of 197 cases are pending and yet to be resolved. This includes several where default judgments are on the horizon after defendants failed to respond. Where are the Trolls? When the Copyright Claims Board was first introduced, there was quite a lot of pushback. Several opponents feared that “copyright trolls” would abuse the system to launch a wave of claims against alleged online pirates. That fear didn’t materialize. While there are many types of copyright trolls, there hasn’t been a single file-sharing piracy case submitted to the CCB. This makes sense, as the board is not meant to issue third-party subpoenas, meaning that rightsholders can’t file a case against a John Doe who’s only known by an IP address. In theory, rightsholders could try to use a traditional DMCA subpoena to obtain the personal details of an alleged pirate and then go to the CCB. However, this hasn’t happened yet and if it ever did, the CCB has a cap on the number of cases that can be filed per year. With 20 claims, Joe Hand Promotions is the most prolific filer. The company requests damages from establishments that stream UFC content without permission. The company also files cases in federal courts but the small claims board is a cheaper option, also for defendants. Thus far, trolling behavior is noticeably absent. Instead, many claims come from smaller creators and rightsholders, who often accuse larger companies such as Instagram, Amazon, UMG, Sony Music, Warner Music, and YouTube of copyright infringement. Whether any of these claims will ultimately result in damages has yet to be seen.

There are fears that Russia's black-market supply of unlicensed Hollywood movies could soon dry up. Cinema insiders say Kazakhstan-based company 'WesternRus" had been supplying keys to cinema chains to unlock localized mainstream movies. Announcing an indefinite suspension of its activities, WesternRus cited "high levels of piracy" as the main reason for throwing in the towel. Straight answers in response to straight questions is far from the default position in Hollywood where piracy is concerned. The topic is always controversial, and most of the interesting questions have answers that have the potential to make it even more so. Whether the details will ever see the light of day is unclear, but the discussions that led to Hollywood ending theatrical releases in Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine must’ve been fascinating. Corporations are rarely considered worthy recipients of sympathy votes, but tearing down a patiently-built market that had overcome many piracy challenges over the previous decade won’t have been easy, even if it was necessary. Can’t Buy It Legally? Someone Will Sell It Illegally The developing legal content market in Russia has always faced stiff competition from pirates. Improvement in content availability gave consumers choice beyond the ‘piracy’ default, but with no new Hollywood content available to buy, there was never any doubt that pirates would attempt to pick up the slack. That some Russian cinemas were able to screen major Hollywood movies in perfect quality still came as a surprise. By December 2022, alongside the screenings of Avatar: The Way of Water, people spoke of major movies being supplied complete with Russian dubbing by sources in Kazakhstan. While welcomed by Russian movie fans, these releases faced inevitable and immediate competition from pirates. A high-quality telesync copy of Avatar 2, presumably recorded from an unlicensed screening in Russia, was among other titles that exploited the growing theatrical pirate market in Russia, or at least for as long as it lasted. WesternRus: Russia’s Hollywood Movie Supplier After being referenced in the media regularly but rarely by name, last week an announcement made by Kazakhstan-based company ‘WesternRus’ leaked from its private Telegram channel and into the hands of journalists. Cinema industry publication ProfiCinema identified WesternRus as the main supplier of Western movies to Russian theaters. ProfiCinema said that WesternRus had been supplying new Hollywood releases that had already undergone localization. Transactions took place on WesternRus’ Telegram channel, where the company would hand out keys to theatrical distributors for use in cinemas for a limited number of days. “The cost of such keys averaged 100 thousand rubles during the ‘premiere’ period. From week to week, the price proportionally decreased depending on the relevance and freshness of the content,” ProfiCinema revealed. It appears that price-cutting and piracy quickly took their toll on a collapsing market. WesternRus: Too Much Piracy, We’re done In a message posted to its Telegram account obtained by ProfiCinema, last week WesternRus announced the end of its theatrical venture. “We are suspending the release of all previously announced releases,” WesternRus’ message reads. According to the company, the main reason for closing down is that too many groups are illegally recording (camming) ‘WesternRus’ releases and distributing them online. The company says that the main culprits are domestic cinema chains and other third-party companies. “An anonymous source in the cinema community confirmed that the struggle of pirates for the ‘treasure island’ – the Russian film market – has been going on for more than one month. In particular, the domestic dubbing studio Red Head Sound was in serious competition with the Kazakh company, and their first step was dumping. WesternRus supported this game by offering a flexible system of discounts for regular customers, but, nevertheless, could not stand it,” ProfiCinema reports. With little to no new Western content being made available in Russia legally, demand for pristine copies of movies is only likely to increase. Whether WesternRus will reemerge as a supplier is unknown. At least for now, it appears that despite having zero production costs, WesternRus cannot make piracy pay because too many pirates give content away for free. It’s a claim as old as piracy itself.

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Sir Rod Stewart is swapping rock 'n' roll for swing. The veteran performer, 78, has declared he's keen to take on new challenges in the recording studio because he's determined to leave "all the rock ‘n’ roll stuff behind" - and has revealed he's laid down a new swing album with piano man Jools Holland. Speaking on 'BBC Breakfast', the 'Maggie May' star explained: "I am actually stopping ... I’m not retiring. But I want to move on. I had a lot of success with the Great American Songbook, all American standards and I’ve just done a swing album with Jools Holland, which is going to come out next year, so I want to go in that direction. I just want to leave all the rock ‘n’ roll stuff behind - for a while, maybe." He added: "Everything has to come to an end sooner or later ... I'm really looking forward to doing something else. Especially singing with Jools' band. It borders on rock 'n' roll anyway, it's just not 'Maggie May' and 'Do Ya Think I'm Sexy'. As well as walking away from rock 'n' roll, Rod is also said to be moving back to his native UK after putting his home in Los Angeles on the market. He's said to be keen to spend more time in Britain especially as his wife Penny is working as a volunteer police officer in London. A source told DailyMail.com: "Penny loves the life she has made away from America and away from Los Angeles. She enjoys nothing more than working for the police force."

Taylor Swift will release her song Cruel Summer as a single four years after it appeared on the 2019 album Lover. The Shake It Off singer announced Cruel Summer as her next single as she performed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania over the weekend, with her explaining to the crowd that the Covid-19 pandemic scuppered her plan to release it as a single in 2020. "Cruel Summer - that song was my pride and joy on that album. That was my favourite song," she said, reports Daily Mail. "You have conversations before the album comes out and everyone around weighs in on what they think should be singles and I was finally about to have my favourite song become the single off of Lover... "And I'm not trying to blame the global pandemic that we had, but that is something that happened that stopped Cruel Summer from ever being a single." Taylor also thanked her fans for making the album track so popular on streaming services that she could justify releasing it as a single four years later. "So what's happening right now - thanks to you - and honestly, no one understands how this is happening, but you guys have, like, streamed Cruel Summer so much right now in 2023 that it's, like, at the top," Taylor gushed. "It's rising on the streaming charts so crazy." She added, "And my label just decided to make it the next single... It's truly, truly perplexing to me because I just haven't had something like this happen in my career." Lover previously spawned the singles Me!, You Need to Calm Down, Lover, and The Man.

Robbie Williams was forced to briefly halt his concert over the weekend after he began to experience long COVID symptoms. The Angels singer was gearing up to launch into Monsoon, his fourth song at the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, the Netherlands, when he asked his band to stop playing the intro. "No, stop stop. I'm f**ked. I'm f**ked," the 49-year-old said, according to footage posted online. "It's long Covid, I've got long Covid." Appearing out of breath, Robbie then joked, "It's not my f**king age, you f**kers." The former Take That star then restarted the song and continued the rest of his set without incident. He subsequently flew to the U.K. to headline the Isle of Wight Festival on Sunday night. Robbie has had two publicly reported battles with the coronavirus. In April 2020, he told fans he felt "lethargic, tired and heavy" as he isolated himself from his wife Ayda Field and their children after contracting Covid-19 at home in Los Angeles. In January 2021, he caught it again while on holiday on the Caribbean island of St Barts with his family. According to the NHS, long COVID is a condition where coronavirus symptoms last longer than usual. The most common symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of smell, and muscle aches.

A recent publication by the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance signals app piracy as a growing problem that has room for improvement. Rightsholders could collaborate more intensely with app stores, for example. Meanwhile, app platforms could implement know-your-customer verification, while deploying automated tools to scan for and filter apps that use known pirate keywords. Over the past decade, mobile applications have become the standard platform for most people to consume content online. Whether it’s for shopping, news, or entertainment, there is an app available for any type of content. This shift in consumption patterns is not limited to legal content; movie and TV piracy has gone mobile as well. In some cases, these pirate streaming apps can be found in official app stores, reaching an audience of millions of users. The App Piracy Problem Copyright holders are not happy with these ‘unauthorized’ apps, which are big business. In a recent publication by the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA), NOS‘ Head of Content Protection Pedro Bravo provides a detailed overview of the problem. App piracy includes legitimate apps that are copied but we reserve our reporting to those that are advertised as a gateway to pirated content or live streams. While these apps lure users with free stuff, they don’t necessarily offer pirated content. The ultimate goal of the developers is the same though. They want to convert users into a revenue stream, one way or another. Some apps may monetize user data, for example, but for the vast majority advertising is the income stream of choice. Stealing Ad Dollars That can be quite a lucrative business model and poses yet another problem for legitimate content creators. In addition to ‘stealing’ content, these pirate apps ‘steal’ their potential advertising revenue too. “Ad words campaigns are the most lucrative for Pirates. Yes, not only are rights holders losing money from the lack of legitimate App downloads, but Pirates steal what should be their ad revenue as well,” Bravo notes. In the past, some pirate sites and services have embraced the Robin Hood image, in the sense that they distribute content from wealthy corporations to the public at large. However, the AAPA piece notes that it is naïve to think that pirates are well-intended folk heroes. “[Pirates] are not charities, handing out access to content to ease the economic pressures. Quite the opposite. Pirates are in it for the money. They are often large, international organizations spread across different jurisdictions, with IT infrastructure and sizeable resources.” Free and Unlimited This sentiment is not new. While pirate sites and services exist in all shapes and forms, these operations have to make money; they wouldn’t survive otherwise. And for many shady piracy operations, money is the main driver, which can come at the expense of privacy or security. How to Tackle Piracy Apps The big question is how piracy apps can be tackled. Here, the AAPA article lists some concrete suggestions, starting with closer cooperation between rightsholders and the operators of app stores, such as Apple and Google. These platforms already remove copyright-infringing apps if they’re reported but rightsholders say they could be more proactive, sharing research and information that can help to detect apps early on. For example, by pointing out known identifiers such as pirate logos and names, so associated apps can be recognized more easily. This implies that app stores should do more than simply respond to takedown notices. On this front, Bravo suggests that it’s key to ensure that piracy apps don’t simply resurface. Verifying the identities of app publishers could be a good start. “From an App Store perspective, implementing a robust process around the Digital Services Act ‘Know Your Business Customer’ could eliminate a lot of Pirate organizations slipping through.” App stores could also collaborate with “trusted flaggers” to set up faster and more streamlined removal procedures while ensuring that repeat infringers are permanently banned. Finally, proactive filtering might also go a long way to address app piracy. While hash filtering isn’t suited for unique apps, Apple and Google could use automated detection tools to flag piracy-related keywords, to spot potentially problematic content. “Another way for App stores to remove Pirate Apps could be to leverage automatic detection, using defined keywords, such as Free IPTV or Free football, to highlight the illegal Apps quickly,” Bravo writes in his AAPA piece. All in all, Bravo calls for more collaboration between stakeholders. That includes rightsholders, who can bundle their knowledge, but app stores also have a crucial role in solving the piracy puzzle.

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GOOGLE TRANSLATION FROM FRENCH: Following this post, I think it's time for me to tell you about certain things already there or to come. Soon, HD-O will only have one theme: his name is Oprah.You can already test it.You just need to go to the settings of your profile to make the tilting.I strongly invite you to do it and make feedback so that I can improve it.The preexisting themes have had their time and the multitude of themes bothered me in the development of the site.The staff therefore agreed to choose a theme, improve it and make it definitive. You've already seen the BBCODE toolbar that has been encrusted in different parts of the site.It is there to avoid typing bbcode by hand in order to give life to your messages/comments.I also added BBCODE which did not exist on the site (you can suggest new BBCODES), in particular: YouTube videos, writing and paintings.

At the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, defending champions France couldn't prevent Argentina from lifting the trophy. Back on home soil, French telecoms regulator Arcom blocked 83 domains during the tournament but couldn't prevent some fans from streaming games illegally. The conundrum for Arcom is that if it cracked down on the most prolific football pirates, it would also be cracking down on the fans most likely to use paid, legal services. The World Cup only takes place every four years so when the opportunity to see the world’s best players arrived again last year, an estimated 1.5 billion eventually tuned in to see the elite square off in the final. Millions cheered on the French national team as the defending champions pursued glory against Argentina. After the French lost in a dramatic penalty shoot-out, for some it became a tournament to forget. For French telecoms regulator Arcom, the end of the competition signaled the start of research to determine how citizens consumed World Cup 2022 and how France benefited from it financially. World Cup 2022 – Audiovisual Broadcasting Review Published this week, Arcom’s study reveals that more than six out of 10 French people watched or listened to at least one live match during the World Cup, a figure that rose to 73% in respect of all content, including replays, match analysis, and behind-the-scenes reporting. Of those who watched live matches, 90% did so from home, with television the medium of choice for 96% of respondents. Around one in five football fans watched at least one match on a smartphone, with 14% and 7% viewing on computers and tablets, respectively. Most Fans Watched Matches for Free Football is traditionally seen as a sport of the people, with national teams serving their countries and citizens rather than their usual corporate paymasters. For these and similar reasons, some countries have laws or regulations in place that prevent the whole of the World Cup from being locked away behind TV subscription packages. In France, all matches played by the national team must be broadcast on a widely accessible system, at no charge to the public. The same applies to the opening match, semi-finals, and the final, regardless of which teams are playing. Free TV broadcaster TF1 won the rights to air these games in 2022 and, as a result, 87% of those who watched live World Cup matches did so on TF1, legally and for free. Paywalls Guarantee Piracy Of the 64 matches played in the tournament, 36 matches were broadcast exclusively by beIN Sports. Since users of beIN must have a subscription, piracy of World Cup matches was effectively guaranteed when more than half the matches in the tournament were placed behind a paywall. According to the study, 18% of live match consumers said they’d watched matches using a paid service. Of all live match consumers, 8% reported watching games using illegal platforms, with 5% using live sports streaming platforms or pirate IPTV applications, and 4% using social media, a figure roughly on par with illicit consumption during the rest of the year. The conundrum for Arcom is that if it decided to crack down on the most prolific football pirates by demographic, it would also be cracking down on the fans most likely to spend money on legal content. “The 15-34 age group, the leading group of illegal users (12%), are also the most inclined to use a pay option (26%),” Arcom reports. Numerous studies have drawn similar conclusions over the years after finding links between the most engaged consumers and their consumption of content from both legal and illegal sources. A report from the EU last week found that 60% of pirates also buy content legally. Paywalls = Profit In the short term, the answer may lie in site-blocking measures. During the World Cup alone, France ordered the blocking of 83 domains in connection with football piracy. Arcom hasn’t indicated if that had any effect on piracy levels but a small observation might be that if half the games weren’t behind a paywall, site blocking wouldn’t even be necessary. The flip side is that 15% of people who watched live matches took out paid subscriptions to do so and beIN Sports did very nicely out of that. “Entirely dedicated to the 2022 World Cup, with daily coverage from 10 a.m. to midnight and all matches broadcast live, beIN Sports 1 benefited strongly from the competition from an advertising point of view. Total gross daily investment for the channel on match broadcast days amounted to around 16.1 million euros,” Arcom reports.