Looking to protect and ensure authorised rights monetisation of its games, in particular the Champions League, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has appointed content protection services provider Friend MTS to provide anti-piracy services for all of its major competitions.
The contract covers both club and national team football and Friend MTS will provide UEFA with a variety of services, including monitoring and enforcement, to combat piracy in all of its forms (and preserve the value of its media rights worldwide. Social media platforms will be addressed separately.“It’s an exciting time for Friend MTS with UEFA joining our portfolio of high-profile sports customers who are experiencing first-hand the value of protecting their content,” said Friend MTS chief product officer Jonathan Friend, at. “From our extensive experience, gained from over two decades in content security, we know that world football serves as a driver for large-scale piracy and it’s imperative for sports rightsholders to go beyond traditional content protection measures to disrupt piracy and to safeguard the value of the rights and content that they work so hard to develop.”
UEFA joins existing Friend MTS customers that include The FA Premier League, Lega Serie A, TNT Sports Chile and Argentina Football.
