Fastly & LALIGA launch anti-piracy push on streams
Fastly and LALIGA have launched a joint project to combat illegal streaming of live sports, focused on unauthorised streams of LALIGA matches.
LALIGA estimates piracy costs its clubs between $700 million and $800 million a year. The collaboration is intended to help platforms identify and remove illicit streams while protecting the value of broadcast rights.
The project builds on work that began last year in response to the scale of piracy around live football broadcasts. On match days, large numbers of unauthorised streaming sites are active, creating a persistent problem for rights holders and the digital platforms that host or distribute content.
Fastly has developed a detection system that uses artificial intelligence and proprietary content signals to identify illegal streams in real time. The approach is designed to help platform customers remove infringing content more precisely and reduce the time pirated streams remain available.
Data cited by the two organisations highlights the scale of the issue. A 2025 Grant Thornton study found at least 10.8 million unauthorised retransmissions of live events were detected in 2024. More than 81% of those retransmissions were never suspended, and only 2.7% were addressed within the first 30 minutes of an event.
Anti-piracy push
The collaboration comes amid broader efforts by media groups, publishers and technology companies to improve the speed and accuracy of piracy enforcement. Instead of relying on broad regional blocking, the Fastly-LALIGA effort is focused on identifying confirmed pirated content and disabling those streams without affecting other traffic.
LALIGA said it had already made progress in Spain through a broader strategy combining legal, educational, institutional and technological measures. According to LALIGA, that approach reduced piracy of its streams in Spain by 60% during the 2024/25 season.
"At LALIGA, we have succeeded in reducing piracy of our streams in Spain by 60% during the 2024/25 season through a comprehensive, end-to-end strategy focused on legal, educational, institutional, and technological measures," said Javier Tebas, President of LALIGA.
"This success is due in large part to our ecosystem of partners like Fastly, enabling us to continue exploring new and more effective ways to tackle piracy at its root. LALIGA remains firmly committed to putting an end to piracy, and achieving this goal requires the collaboration of all stakeholders working together," said Tebas.
Broader stakes
Illegal streaming has become a major commercial issue for sports leagues, as broadcast rights remain a key source of revenue for clubs and competition organisers. For leagues such as LALIGA, the loss extends beyond direct subscription income and can also affect the value of rights packages sold to broadcasters and streaming services in different markets.
Fastly and LALIGA said they are also working with other technology groups, publishers and regulators on software tools and operating practices intended to detect and disable unauthorised streams quickly. The aim is to limit illegal use without pushing intermediaries into broader enforcement actions that could disrupt lawful viewing.
Fastly described the work as part of its support for customers running online platforms affected by copyright abuse. It added that the initiative aligns with wider efforts to improve trust in digital distribution by reducing criminal misuse while avoiding blanket restrictions on legitimate audiences.
Kelly Shortridge, Fastly's Chief Product Officer, said the focus was on targeted enforcement rather than broad blocking measures.
"Unlike alternative approaches based on regional blocking, our strategy focuses on precision, letting fans enjoy the game while protecting content from abuse by criminals," said Shortridge.
"At Fastly, we love co-innovating with customers to solve their thorniest challenges, and we look forward to continuing our work with LALIGA to help protect content owners around the world," added Shortridge.