The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), an antipiracy coalition led by the Motion Picture Association, has announced the shutdown of Streameast, a notorious piracy network that illegally streamed live games from the NFL, NBA, MLB and more. The operation was carried out in collaboration with Egyptian authorities, who raided offices and seized equipment.
According to ACE, Streameast had more than 1.6 billion visits in the past year, making it the largest illicit live sports streaming operation globally, with an average of 136 million monthly visits. All former Streameast sites will now redirect to ACE’s “Watch Legally” page.
Egyptian law enforcement officials seized three laptops, four smartphones, ten Visa cards containing around $123,000, and approximately $200,000 in crypto wallets. The operators had created a shell company in the United Arab Emirates to funnel ad revenue. Two men were arrested and detained on suspicion of copyright infringement in El-Sheikh Zaid, Giza Governorate, late last month.
Streameast offered access to sport-specific piracy sites for American sports including the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and MLS, as well as pay-per-view boxing, MMA, and motorsports like Formula 1 and MotoGP. It also provided unauthorized access to European football leagues such as the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, and Primeira Liga, plus UEFA competitions and international qualifiers.
Site traffic originated primarily from the US, Canada, the UK, the Philippines, and Germany. ACE chairman Charles Rivkin hailed the action as a “resounding victory,” while DAZN and beIN Media Group also praised the shutdown, calling it a major blow to sports piracy.
