Twenty-five years ago illegal file-sharing platform Napster transformed the music industry. 

Though it was short-lived in its initial iteration, it showed there was a new model for music, and was the precursor for legal platforms that offered cheap, accessible music for the masses – the likes of Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer.

However, it also triggered a cataclysmic decline in music industry revenues, bottoming out at $7bn in 2014 from $21bn in 1999.

Are we about to see history repeating itself for sport?

Writer and Producer: Matt Cutler

Editor: Richard Gillis

The Pirates vs The Premier League is a series by Unofficial Partner Productions.

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The Premier League is the world's most popular sports league, and is highly active in closing down, blocking and prosecuting people who pirate its broadcast content.

Despite this, the Premier League is largely silent on the issue of sports piracy. 

Matt and Richard look to understand why.

Writer and Producer: Matt Cutler

Editor: Richard Gillis 

The Pirates vs The Premier League is a series by Unofficial Partner Productions.

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Ten days after the 2022/23 Premier League season finished, five men were sentenced to 30 years in prison for illegally broadcasting sport.

The case, known as Operation Flawless, is believed to be the world's largest-ever illegal streaming prosecution – but why don’t the criminals involved fit the description of the Tony Soprano-type sports piracy characters Matt and Richard have been told about?

Writer and Producer: Matt Cutler

Editor: Richard Gillis

The Pirates vs The Premier League is a series by Unofficial Partner Productions.

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Watching Premier League games through illegal broadcast streams has gone mainstream. But the average football fan doesn’t know the criminal underbelly that is working in the shadows to provide their fix.

Meet Neo, the Balkans-based seller of illegal IPTV solutions who is making $15,000 a month delivering cheap and comprehensive live sport to sports fans in the UK and US.

Writer and Producer: Matt Cutler

Editor: Richard Gillis

The Pirates vs The Premier League is a series by Unofficial Partner Productions.

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Matt is sitting at home on a Thursday evening, 100 miles away from his beloved Villa Park, desperately trying to watch a game that isn’t being shown live on TV in the UK. And his tried and tested methods to watch it aren’t working.

This triggered the start of a journey into the world of illicit Premier League broadcasting.

First stop: the pub.

Writer and Producer: Matt Cutler

Editor: Richard Gillis

The Pirates vs The Premier League is a series by Unofficial Partner Productions.

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Watching live sport illegally has become second nature for millions of fans across the country, fuelled by the cost-of-living crisis and greater accessibility to content. 

Since January Matt Cutler and Richard Gillis have been on a journey deep into the world of illicit Premier League broadcasting, uncovering the true scale of the problem, speaking to the criminals making large sums of money from the demand for cheap content, and exploring the potential cost to sport should piracy not be curbed soon.

A series by Unofficial Partner Productions.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices