A Federal Court has awarded Rogers, Bell, and Québecor “unprecedented” power over Canadian internet service providers (ISPs) to salve the wounds the three broadcasters suffer every National Hockey League (NHL) season at the hands of pirates — reports the National Post.
Rogers, Bell, and Québecor hold exclusive NHL broadcasting rights in Canada. Broadcasters pay millions of dollars to the NHL for exclusive broadcasting rights, but pirates cut into their profits every season by illegally streaming game broadcasts online.
To remedy the situation, federal judge William Pentney has granted them a “dynamic site blocking” order, giving the broadcasters the authority to force all major Canadian ISPs to block access to web pages hosting illegal NHL streams in real time and without requiring approval from a court or regulator.
The order is temporary. It will remain in force until the end of the current Stanley Cup playoffs, presumably by the end of June.
Last year, internet monitoring company Friend MTS discovered 53,433 “incidents” of unauthorized NHL game streams between January 30 and May 30 after being hired to look into the issue by Rogers.
Judge Pentney acknowledged in his ruling that the order is “unprecedented in Canada” and is rife with potential legal issues, especially pertaining to net neutrality and freedom of expression.
However, a previous “static” site blocking order granted to Bell to combat the same issue in 2019 proved ineffective. The broadcaster needed court approval to block a new website, and perpetrators would simply migrate their streams to a new site after one was blocked.
“Despite the steps they have taken thus far, the piracy continues and there are not any further remedies that are likely to be effective to stop it,” the ruling reads.
“The pirates have adopted new measures to avoid detection and defeat site blocking, including moving their infringing content from site to site on a regular basis. Court approval would be impossible prior to each new blocking step because these efforts need to happen in real time in order to be effective.”
Judge Pentney added that the dynamic site blocking order has multiple “restraints” built into it in order to limit any impact on freedom of expression.
Website blocking restricts free expression and access to information in Canada.
We firmly stand against it. https://t.co/09PS8xbbdn
— OpenMedia (@OpenMediaOrg) June 8, 2022
The measure will make it much, much harder for Canadians to watch unauthorized NHL streams online for free, but it will also dump more work onto Canadian ISPs.
Judge Pentney’s ruling notes that other ISPs, including Telus, Cogeco, TekSavvy, and Distribute, were either completely against the order or raised concerns regarding it, arguing it would “impose undue risks, practical difficulties and costs” on them.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
And it begins……
This is another reason these big telcos need to be broken up. They shouldn’t be able to own the content distribution rights and also own the distribution networks.
Would Rogers and bell be so keen to block streams of content they don’t own? No. If someone was actively pirating/trading Xbox or PS games online, would Rogers and bell fight so hard to use their control of the networks to block those sites? No.
Trudeau fought so hard to convince Canadians that he needed to kill net neutrality for their own benefit, it’s no wonder corps are winning cases to help kill any semblance of it in Canada.
This is one heck of a slippery slope we just went down. What’s stopping them from blocking sites with alternative media or news that doesn’t match what CBC, CTV, and Global say? My goodness.
It is already happening. Seen any reporting on war in Ukraine other than from Western media?
India is, at least nominally, the largest democracy in the world. Anyone seen their perspective and reporting in mainstream media? How about the entire continent of Africa? Their views are not relevant? Any country from South America? Argentina, Brazil, Chile? Apparently, they don’t matter. Even China. I may not agree with their position but I would like to know what is looming beyond the horizon and how that may affect the further development and possible outcomes of the crisis. No? Happy with solely western reporting? Good for you. Keep downvoting and enjoy your closed mindedness.
government = full control
full control = same as china
i mean, china isnt so bad, they make everything and they live in the future with wechat
You are confusing the courts with the government with private corporations. Government has no role in this story as written.
Maybe if Rogers priced NHL live at a reasonable rate or create team options, less people would pirate it. I could care about any game that doesn’t involve the Habs, but if I want the Habs games, I have to get the whole package. $200 for what amounts to 82 games isn’t remotely worth it!
Oh does Rogers no longer sell the exclusive French-only version for $79 anyone?
I was always jealous Habs fans got a discount…
But it’s only for Habs fans outside Québec. Local games are blacked out. Pirated streams is the only way to watch a local Habs game.
They may have it, but while I speak French, I want an English version. The problem is Rogers doesn’t give a rat’s a$$ about anything but their bottom line! Just look at how they have raised the price of the WWE Network while sitting back after the WWE effectively made the app useless in Canada!
I don’t understand what they are trying to achieve by doing this? Like of course I’m for protecting IP, and I am also definitely for no-censoreship…
Somebody that is looking to steal IP (watch pirated NHL game) will easily be able to use a VPN to bypass any blocks… so what’s the point of all the effort and moral grey area???
The point is that the people passing the laws are still 20 years behind the times.
VPN baby, VPN…
The local games are blacked out. We can’t even watch them if we pay for the legit stream. Pirated stream is the only solution.