A few weeks ago, Lorenzo Fertitta testified in front of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee asking legislators to pass stricter internet piracy laws. According to Fertitta, there were 271 unauthorized streams of UFC 106 being watched by over 140,000 people. Whether or not his message among others convinced lawmakers to do anything about is unknown, but it appears the UFC isn’t going to wait around to see if they do.
The UFC claims they’re taking matters into their own hands by suing websites who stream illegal feeds of their pay-per-views and the individuals who watch them.
Lawrence Epstein, the UFC’s general legal counsel, said the company could subpoena websites that carry illegal content for the IP addresses and user information of people who watch and download UFC fights, though he declined to say when that would happen.
“We’re looking at all of our legal options, and I wouldn’t rule out anything when it comes to fighting this problem,” Epstein said.
White said the UFC’s anti-piracy team monitors illegal streams during events and aggressively pursues offending websites, though he admitted suing websites and individuals would be a costly effort.
“[Piracy] hasn’t cost us anything compared to what it’s going to cost us to go after these guys,” White said. “It’s gonna cost us a lot of money, but guess what — it’s gonna cost them a lot of money. It’s gonna get to the point where it’s like, you know what, [expletive] it, maybe we shouldn’t pirate MMA any more.”
Not every UFC employee believes its the right move though. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan doesn’t think piracy is necessarily a bad thing.
“I think that kind of stifles innovation,” Rogan said. “It stifles the direction the Internet is going. I like things being out there. I think people are always going to buy UFC pay-per-views. You’re going to get a much better experience watching it on your television than all stretched out looking fuzzy and pixilated.
“They’re trying to protect their money, but the Internet is a strange animal.”
It will be interesting to see how far the UFC actually takes this. Going after the websites that stream their content is one thing, but pursuing all the individuals who view it would be quite the undertaking. If the music and movie industries ongoing fight against piracy is any indication, it will be a long drawn out war they’re about to wage.
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I agree completely with Joe Rogan. Any MMA fan, or UFC fan that I know, watches the fights live, religiously. NOTHING compares to watching it as its happening, not cornered away on your computer monitor, trying to make sense of it all. A lot of times, after seeing the fights live, Ill even watch them on the internet again to see what I may have missed or like the Machida vs Shogun fight for example, watch the fight again just to see if there is some way to justify a decision. Im a HUGE fan of the UFC and MMA all together, but this ticks me off. The internet is literally free advertising for them. I started watching it on the internet until I became the fan that I am, and now I havent missed a live UFC event since like UFC 81 or something. I think they are trying to protect DVD sales, if anything, because they cant be that stupid. Things like this are what erks me about the UFC. To use all of these modes of media to build it up, whether they realize it or not, then once it starts getting big, taking it away. I dont think this would be a good idea. Not only will it take away that way of advertising fights to the casual fan, but it will make the fans mad. Trust me, Im one of them!
This decision from the UFC is short term cash-driven. Totally stupid. How do millions of fans outside USA get to know MMA and then get hooked on MMA? Via internet and those “Pirate” sites.
Those UFC fuckers don’t understand that you often can’t access US TV channels in Europe, Asia etc. If those millions of new internet hardcore fans could pay for a nice HD PPV, they would!
Long live Strikeforce
1) Dana should remember that the stated in an interview last week that he watched the last Cung Le fight on YouTube. Unless it was an official post by the owners, he just violated the same laws he is now claiming should be used to fine and jail viewers.
2) RIAA and MPAA both had the same plan, ’sue em till they stop’. Epstein is right, it will be expensive. But it will also be be completely ineffective. Just ask RIAA and MPAA how well their plan has worked out and how many hundreds of millions they have spent attacking the individual file sharers. In fact, it turns out the people that ‘illegally’ download content are also their best customers.
The UFC ought to learn that the people occasionally viewing online are also the people that usually buy their PPV or go to bars to watch. The only time I have used justin.tv or a torrent after the event is when something has prevented me from being able to watch it…in which case the UFC lost no money at all from me, as I was unable to order to the PPV due to time constraints in life.