Sport and TV in the crosshairs of piracy: 'A leap forward is needed'
Fapav: 350 million in sport and 2.2 billion for the Italian economy lost in 2024. Bagnoli Rossi: 'A gigantic theft of economic value'
Piracy is no longer just the old 'pezzotto' to watch the game without paying. It has become an industrial sinkhole. Football, Formula 1, tennis, MotoGP, cinema, TV all end up in it. And above all companies, technicians, authors, workers. A chain that produces content and work, but sees an increasing part of the value evaporate in illegal circuits.
In Rome, at the event 'IP & Sports - Ready, Set, Play!', promoted by Fapav with Civita for World Intellectual Property Day, Federico Bagnoli Rossi, president of Fapav (Federation for the Protection of Audiovisual and Multimedia Industries and Contents), put the issue on the table without mincing words: 'Behind the industry linked to sport and sports content there is an enormous supply chain, represented by companies, professionals and workers. A world, he added, 'threatened by television piracy, an illegal activity that creates enormous damage to the market and businesses'.
The initiative, opened by the greetings of the Vice-President Civita, Nicola Maccanico, was also attended by Sylvie Forbin, Deputy Director General, Copyright & Creative Industries Sector of Wipo; Paolo Boccardelli, Rector of Luiss Guido Carli; Paolo Bedin, President of Lega Serie B; Luigi De Siervo, CEO Lega Serie A; Federico Romano Ferri, Director Sky Sport; Paolo Marzano, member of the Permanent Advisory Committee for Copyright at the Ministry of Culture and Luiss lecturer; Romano Righetti, General Counsel Dazn Italia; Guillermo Rodriguez, Director of Live Content Protection Mpa & Ace; Fabio Marco Vetrano, Commander Gruppo Radiodiffusione ed Editoria Nucleo Speciale Beni e Servizi Guardia di Finanza; Massimiliano Capitanio, Agcom Commissioner, who gave the conclusions.
The numbers explain why the battle is no longer just cultural. According to Fapav, in 2024 the loss of turnover for sport is estimated at 350 million: football remains the main target, but Formula 1, tennis and MotoGp come next. Broadening the view to the entire Italian economy, the repercussions of audiovisual piracy amount to approximately EUR 2.2 billion.
Italia has already taken the hard road with Law 93 of 2023 and Piracy Shield, the Agcom platform that allows the rapid blocking of illegal access to live events. The Authority recalls that those powers were introduced precisely to strengthen the fight against online piracy of live broadcast events.
