Gloves off on boxing, says Sky

Broadcaster warns freeloaders they’re picking a fight.

Sky Television says it’s ready to step into the ring if anyone helps people watch free live footage of tomorrow night’s heavyweight boxing bout between Kiwi hopeful Joseph Parker and Alexander Dimitrenko of the Ukraine.

The broadcaster was left redfaced and boxing promoter Duco fuming in May after Moze Galo, then living in Porirua, filmed a fight between Parker and Carlos Takam on his phone and livestreamed it on his Facebook page.

More than 100,000 people illegally watched Parker’s victory, prompting legal threats.

Galo said he would not be watching tomorrow’s contest. ‘‘I don’t watch boxing anymore. Ever since I moved to Silverstream,’’ he said.

Sky spokeswoman Kirsty Way believed Sky was still weighing up whether to take legal action against Galo and was ‘‘very confident’’ it would be able to get on top of any similar issues tomorrow.

‘‘We are always monitoring and looking at taking down streams, looking at who these people are, and considering taking action against them,’’ she said.

Way declined to say how Sky rooted out culprits.

Sky is giving satellite TV subscribers and non-subscribers the opportunity to watch the Parker-Dimitrenko fight legally for $39.95, by showing it as a payper-view event both on Sky TV and on its FanPass internet service, she said.

Way appealed to viewers to ‘‘play fair, support Joseph and do the right thing’’.

‘‘Duco forks out millions of dollars to put on an event like this so it is in both of our interests to protect copyright. We have been working closely with them.’’

Way was unable to immediately comment on whether Sky had made progress weighing up its legal options with regard to the Facebook streams of the Parker and Takam fight that appeared in May.

‘‘We are still looking at those options,’’ she said. ‘‘It is not off the table.’’ Duco has also threatened to sue. IT and media law expert Richard Shera said it was pretty clear that copying television broadcasts and re-uploading them to Facebook did breach copyright.

Anyone who followed in Galo’s footsteps might face a higher risk, he said.

‘‘The fact it was publicly put out there that this is infringing activity means that if someone was to do it again, and Sky did decide to take action, the courts are going to look pretty unfavourably on that, and there are provisions in the Copyright Act to ask for special damages for blatant infringement.’’

Duco spokesman Craig Stanaway said all the indications were pointing to a ‘‘very big’’ payper-view audience for tomorrow’s event at Manukau City.