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A 27-year-old Manchester man was arrested this morning by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) on suspicion of running illegal sports streaming websites.

The man is believed to be operating a series of sites, all of which allow unlawful free access to pay TV services. It is estimated that the sites are contributing to a loss across the subscription services of more than £10 million.


City of London Police sent its specialist intellectual property unit to arrest the man at his home, where detectives discovered an "industrial size streaming operation". This consisted of 12 computer servers streaming sporting events from across the world.

The equipment has been confiscated by the police and the man was taken to a local police station for questioning. This is the unit's third arrest in relation to online streaming, following a recent effort by police to crack down on the practice. "Not only is there a significant loss to industry with this particular operation but it is also unfair that millions of people work hard to be able to afford to pay for their subscription-only TV services when others cheat the system," said DCI Danny Medlycott, the newly appointed Head of PIPCU.

The unit, which only launched in September last year, has been busy recently. Only a month ago it arrested a 20-year-old man in Nottingham on suspicion of running a proxy server providing access to other sites subject to legal blocking orders. While it is based in within the Economic Crime Directorate of the City of London Police, it is tasked with protecting UK industries from intellectual properties, and as such will continue to run operations across the country.