Spain’s LaLiga football league will continue to strengthen its fight against illegal football broadcasts in HORECA ( -hospitality market, including bars, hotels, restaurants, and cafés) establishments by promoting its Complaints Channel, but also with a reward scheme for those who report piracy.
The professional clubs’ association will underpin its strategy based on its complaints channel, “an easy, secure and confidential tool that allows any citizen to actively collaborate in the detection of HORECA establishments that broadcast content fraudulently‘, with a reward scheme ’through which users who make a valid and effective report can receive €50 as a thank you for their collaboration, once the corresponding validation process has been completed”.
‘The objective is twofold: to protect establishments that broadcast football legally and to facilitate citizen collaboration in the defence of audiovisual rights, making a channel available to users that is accessible from their mobile phones and operational at any time,’ LaLiga emphasised in a press release.
The organisation chaired by Javier Tebas points out that detecting illegal football broadcasts in a bar ‘is simple and can be done in a matter of seconds’ and to this end offers ‘clear and visual guidelines for any fan’ which consist of checking whether there is a “B” in the corner of the television screen during the broadcast, in the case of a bar, or an “A” if it is a betting shop. If neither appears, the establishment is not authorised and the broadcast is illegal.
In this case, anyone can access LaLiga’s reporting channel at “www.laligabares.com/denuncias”, fill in a short form and attach images to verify the broadcast, a process that ‘is quick, intuitive and confidential’. ‘Once the report has been received, LaLiga teams will analyse the information and, if it is confirmed that it meets the established requirements, the control process will be activated and, where appropriate, the expected reward will be given,’ added the organisation.
LaLiga stressed that the “LALIGA BARES” reporting channel is designed to facilitate citizen collaboration ‘without exposing the user’. ‘All communications are treated confidentially and reports are reviewed according to technical and objective criteria before being considered valid or eligible for a reward,’ it warned, emphasising that there must be ‘reliable evidence proving the existence of pirate broadcasts’.
In addition, LaLiga clarifies that if the consumer wishes to make an anonymous report without a reward, this can also be done, and that this reward of 50 euros ‘is only granted in cases where the report is effective after the validation process, as part of a regulated and transparent policy of gratitude.’
With this update, LaLiga emphasises that “LALIGA BARES” goes one step further, promoting the legal consumption of football and protecting the investments made by hoteliers to offer their customers a quality experience through responsible collaboration.
The organisation insists that the protection of audiovisual rights is one of its ‘strategic priorities’ and that, for this reason, each season it ‘deploys a wide range of measures to combat fraud’, such as advanced monitoring and analysis systems to detect illegal broadcasts, inspections and controls in HORECA establishments, collaboration with operators, technology platforms and authorities at national and international level, and legal action against illegal distribution networks and fraudulent use of signals.
‘Piracy harms the entire football ecosystem and, in particular, bars, restaurants and betting shops that comply with the law. We want everyone to be able to identify an illegal broadcast and to know that they can report it to us easily, safely and confidentially. Citizen collaboration is a key tool in this fight, and we also want to recognise that,’ says Javier Tebas.