Sky TV hits back over illegal fight views

Sky TV says it took down a ‘‘huge’’ number of people illegally streaming Saturday night’s Parker v Ruiz boxing fight on the internet.

Network spokeswoman Kirsty Way said she didn’t have the full reports yet but estimated the numbers of streamers ‘‘probably reached into the triple digits’’.

‘‘We took down a huge number of streams. Its just really disappointing – that despite the courts ruling in our favour this past week, agreeing that people streaming the event online is unlawful – that people would do it anyway.

‘‘Regardless, we will be following up on all those unlawfully streaming the event last night with the aim to take court action,’’ Way said.

The broadcaster and promoter Duco Events have been battling to stop people illegally streaming Parker’s fights.

Saturday night’s bout aired on Sky TV’s pay-per-view Arena channel for a cost of $59.95.

Last Friday, a court ruled against seven individuals found to have unlawfully streamed July’s fight between Parker and Solomon Haumono.

The judge found each of the seven had infringed Sky’s copyright, granted an injunction restraining any further infringements and ordered the defendant to destroy any copies of the fight. They must pay nominal damages of $100 as well as costs of $2670.

Duco chief executive Martin Snedden said the judgment was a great result and they had had a ‘‘larger team than ever’’ working to track down anyone unlawfully streaming the Parker v Ruiz fight.

‘‘I just hope the message gets out just how seriously we, Sky and Duco, take this unlawful behaviour.’’

Sky TV chief executive John Fellet agreed, before adding there were more claims in the judicial system. ‘‘We believe that piracy is theft of copyright. We will continue to work hard to protect Sky’s investments in all kind of content.’’