France adopts new anti-piracy measure

France is moving closer to fully automating the blocking of pirated sports broadcasts, with beIN Sports securing its first judicial approval to use this new system for protecting its rights to the Bundesliga.

Judicial approval enables real-time action

The Paris judicial court authorized beIN Sports on October 16 to use the automated blocking mechanism, which is part of a reform enacted in August 2026. This allows rights holders to quickly send new pirated service addresses to designated intermediaries without waiting for approval from Arcom agents.

Implementation details remain unclear

The specifics of the October 16 decision have not been released, and it is still unclear which intermediaries will be targeted, how long the measures will last, or what judicial process was followed. The deployment of the system must still comply with Arcom’s guidelines, which oversee the collection of addresses and the control of applied measures.

Recent court decision shows mixed enforcement

Just days before, the Paris judicial court had denied heavy fines for NordVPN, Surfshark, and Cloudflare, despite their incomplete blocking of pirate sites. This case dealt with the enforcement of existing measures, while the new authorization relates to the future automated system.

New system may cause unintended disruptions

The risk of unintended consequences is real, as seen in Spain, where LaLiga’s IP address blocks against piracy disrupted many non-football-related sites. A study found over 500,000 affected domains, highlighting the potential for collateral damage from such measures.

Balancing speed and accuracy remains a challenge

The judiciary has given beIN Sports a new tool to combat piracy, but the success of the system will depend on its ability to balance the speed of intervention with the precision of blocking, a challenge that is far from guaranteed.