LOS ANGELES – The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, in coordination with DAZN, has successfully shut down Calcio, an illicit live sports streaming website, following a coordinated investigation led by ACE and in collaboration with DAZN’s anti-piracy team. The Moldova-based operator of the service agreed to cease operations after being approached.
Calcio drew more than 123 million visits in the past 12 months across 134 domains. With over 6 million monthly visits from Italy alone, it was the most popular sports streaming website in the country.
The service provided unauthorized access to premium sports content including top European football leagues such as Serie A, Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1; UEFA club competitions including Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League; international competitions such as FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO; basketball leagues including the NBA; motorsports (including Formula 1 and Moto GP), tennis matches, and more.
“Shutting down illegal operations like Calcio is vital for protecting fans, safeguarding jobs, and preserving the value and integrity of live sports,” said Ed McCarthy, COO of DAZN Group. “ACE and DAZN’s decisive action in removing this site has prevented further harm to the wellbeing of the sports ecosystem.”
Eighty percent of the traffic came from Italy, with smaller percentages originating from Spain, the United States, Germany, and France.
“Piracy diminishes the commercial value of a live sports broadcast well before the final whistle blows, harming broadcasters, sports leagues, and fans alike,” said Larissa Knapp, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Protection Officer for the Motion Picture Association (MPA). “With the start of the Italian football season, I commend the team for the timely takedown of this notorious operation.”
All Calcio domains have been transferred to ACE and are now redirected to ACE’s Watch Legally site.
About The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) is the world’s leading coalition dedicated to protecting the legal creative market and reducing digital piracy. Driven by a comprehensive approach to addressing piracy through criminal referrals, civil litigation, and cease-and-desist operations, ACE has achieved many successful global enforcement actions against illegal streaming services and unauthorized content sources and their operators. Drawing upon the collective expertise and resources of more than 50 media and entertainment companies around the world—including sports channels and associations—and reinforced by the Motion Picture Association’s content protection operations, ACE protects the creativity and innovation that drives the global growth of core copyright and entertainment industries. The current governing board members for ACE are Amazon, Apple TV+, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Charles Rivkin is Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association and Chairman of ACE.
About DAZN
DAZN, the world’s leading sports entertainment platform, streams over 110,000 live events annually and is available in more than 200 markets worldwide. DAZN is the home of European football, women’s football, boxing and MMA, and the NFL Game Pass internationally. The platform features the biggest sports and leagues from around the world – Bundesliga, Serie A, LALIGA, Ligue 1, Formula 1, NBA, Moto GP, and many more.
DAZN is transforming the way people enjoy sport. With a single, frictionless platform, sports fans can watch, play, buy, and connect. Live and on-demand sports content, anywhere, in any language, on any device – only on DAZN. The company partners with leading pay-TV operators, ISPs and Telcos worldwide to maximise sports exposure to a broad audience.
DAZN is a global, privately-owned company, founded in 2016, with more than 3,000 employees. For more information on DAZN, visit www.dazngroup.com
Media Contacts
ACE – Pamela Corante
pamela_corante@motionpictures.org
DAZN – Sofya Grebenkina
