When a majority of the English Premier League's income comes from exclusive broadcast deals, it makes sense why the football organisation is committed to cracking down on piracy globally.
Speaking to ZDNet, Premier League chief legal counsel Kevin Plumb said that while anti-piracy work has been on the company's agenda for a long time, making it a priority started with former executive chairman Richard Scudamore, "who really prioritised it alongside broadcast sales because he saw it as two sides of the same coin".
"We know it's a problem in every territory -- not just for sports or the Premier League, it's for movies, it's TV shows ... and that's one of the reasons why we opened an office in [Singapore three years ago]. We are pretty loud and proud about our anti-piracy work," Plumb said.
"Back in the day, it used to be a 'non-secret' and something we did in the background ... but now we're right at the cutting edge of anti-piracy work and we want to show our broadcasters and our fans that as well."
In fact, Plumb reckons all the anti-piracy work is having a significant impact, pointing out that the company's revenue for international broadcasting deals will be up by 30% for 2022-25. Based on reports earlier this year byThe Times, international deals will be worth