Showtime begins clampdown on illegal McGregor v Mayweather streams
The exclusive owner of the US TV broadcasting rights of the Conor McGregor v Floyd Mayweather boxing match has applied to shut down 45 sites allegedly hosting illegal streams.
Showtime Network, a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, filed the complaint (pdf) at the US District Court for the Central District of California yesterday, August 15.
The unnamed defendant was accused of running the ‘LiveStreamHDQ’ website, along with three domains linked specifically to the upcoming fight on August 26.
In the complaint, the defendant was also accused of being involved in the operation of a network of at least 41 other affiliate websites, “created specifically to target people searching for a way to access a live stream of the fight online”.
These include ‘Mayweathervs-mcgregorlivestreaming.us’, ‘Watchconormcgregorfightonline.us’ and ‘Mayweathervsconorlive.us’.
Showtime owns exclusive rights in the US, with each pay-per-view subscription costing between $89.95 and $99.99, as well as in Canada.
The complaint went on to say that after serving the websites with an advance notice of potential infringement, Showtime received one response from a man saying he is just a sports blogger.
The suit added that the “harms cannot be adequately compensated by monetary damages”.
Showtime is seeking a temporary restraining order, actual damages, profits and/or statutory damages, and attorneys’ fees.
“In addition to bringing litigation, this experience includes sending cease and desist demands to LiveStreamHDQ in response to its unauthorised live streaming of the record-breaking fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao,” it added.
The fight has been tipped by Forbes to beat the current revenue record for a pay-per-view sporting event, which was broken in 2015 in the bout between Mayweather and Pacquiao, which generated over $400 million.
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