Third of fans illegally view top-flight action

A THIRD of Premier League foot- ball fans regularly stream illegal coverage of live matches.

A survey commissioned by BBC Radio 5 Live has also revealed that many of those supporters do not know it is now against the law to use unofficial streams, with younger fans the biggest offenders.

Kieron Sharp, director general of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), said: ‘People need to be aware that this is no longer a grey area, in fact it is very black and white.

‘If you are accessing content for free such as sport, TV and films for which you’d normally need a subscription, or go to the cinema, or buy a DVD, this is illegal. The recent ruling by the eU Court of Justice has clarified that both selling a device pre- configured to access copyrighted material and watching content via these devices without a legitimate subscription are breaking the law.

‘As the old saying goes, if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is.’

The Premier League are seeking to protect the value of their TV deal, after Sky and BT Sports paid a record £5.136billion for rights to show live matches for three seasons.

Last season saw the biggest drop in live Premier League viewing figures for seven years.