Piracy in live sports broadcasting gives rise to a continuous threat to the live sports broadcasting media rights holder, which is causing several financial losses and also further depriving the ethical and legal values of various live sports broadcasting platforms. The paper calculates how to tackle the continuous increase of challenges related to sports piracy, the role and functions of the already existing sanctioned conventions, and the emergence of techno-legal responses.

This article also further discusses and highlights the requirement for reform in the legal framework, along with suggestions on the role of integrating advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and invisible watermarks to resist the issue of Sports Piracy. Therefore, the study concludes with real-time discussion areas for future research by emphasizing the recommendations for strengthening anti-piracy measures.

Introduction
In today's time with the advancement of technology and the vibrant way of using the Internet, there is a drastic shift in broadcasting sports media channels, from the Old Paid Television to the various Online Streaming Platforms. These advancements in technology led to better quality and also improved the costs of pirated streaming platforms which became more attractive and fantasize for any sports lover. But in parallel, there is also an issue of 'Piracy' that has been consistently rising and increasing, which emerged as one of the most prominent single biggest threats to the Live Sports Broadcasting media.

Impact
In back 2022, there was a study conducted by Synamedia in which they published an article titled "The Battle Against Sports Piracy" and data related to the estimated cost of sports media rights was released, which stated that- 'every year approximately 28 billion dollars of loss faced by the media rights holders of sports because of the piracy that occurred in the live broadcasting of the sports.[1]

Also, there is a persistent increase in global demand and a rise in the value of Online Streaming Platforms due to a sudden increase in the number of pirated platforms.[2] Nowadays, the piracy of the Broadcasting of Sports has become a massive menace for both the sports media rights as well as the consumer.[3] The Sports Media Broadcasting Industries suffered a heavy loss in jobs, investments, subscriptions, and revenue and the End users also became vulnerable to the infringement of privacy by transferring the malware or any related software so that these can steal the data.

Legal Frameworks for Protecting the Broadcasting Rights

At the International level, there are two main well-known conventions have been signed to protect the media rights of broadcasting organizations: the Rome Convention of 1964 and the Brussels Convention of 1974. Rome Convention was the first to recognize Broadcasting as a separate entity of media right holders in which a unique right has been given to broadcast, rebroadcast and notify the public about their broadcasts for 20 years.

But there a major drawback of these conventions is that the one of world's most significant markets organization which is based in the USA and China are not the signatory parties to it, which demonstrates its limited showcasing international appeal. On the other side, the Brussels Convention provides legal access to content and also gives protection against cables that are not authorized but there is no enforcement mechanism for broadcasters.[4]

Challenges and Solutions to the Present Legal Frameworks

During the time of the making of these conventions, the era of the Internet and mobile data networks was not present that time and Broadcasting and Piracy both are dynamic and evolved with time so there must be requirements for new legal frameworks that deal with these new kinds of transmission that were not prevalent earlier. Apart from this, at the National stage also, some countries like India, and Australia, started using court orders and notices to combat such instances of piracy issues and this will lead to the blocking access of pirated content at the ISP level even though the host (originator) of that site is from some other country or location.[5] However, the intricate value of these live events is very short-lived as it dies down as soon as the live streaming ends, so it becomes most important as there is an urgent need for the fast delivery of these court orders.

To tackle these limitations in the legal frameworks, one can be a very effective solution to combating sports privacy in real-time scenarios by putting technologies into these frameworks.[6] By the use of technology, broadcasters can reduce the losses by mandatory rapid identifications and instant take-downs of pirated content. Invisible Watermarks can become a method as they are efficient in fast-tracking and blocking a particular pirated site without disturbing the experience of the user.[7]

Apart from this, there is one more method of using the AI models which helps in monitoring and analysing the huge quantities of data over the internet including the videos and images of the content to check the user's activity and block any such piracy words found on the sites.[8]

Conclusion
Hence, thereby from the above paragraphs, we can conclude that integrating technology into a legal framework considering broadcasting organizations and media rights holders can ensure the values and rights of live online streaming platforms in the present digital world.

End Note:

1. Simon Brydon, "The Battle Against Sports Piracy", accessed 20 June 2023
2. Lachlan Gapp, "The growing problem of live sports broadcast piracy – copyright protection and available counter-technologies", accessed 15 March 2024
3. Queen's Business Review, "The Rise of Sports Piracy", accessed 30 November
4. Summary of the Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite (1974)
5. Brett Danaher, Michael D. Smith, and Rahul Telang, "Pro Sports Has a Piracy Problem", accessed 14 February 2024
6. Mélanie Langlois & Fatima Peñaranda, "Defending sports rights: the critical role of watermarking in anti-piracy efforts", accessed 2 September 2024
7. Mélanie Langlois & Fatima Peñaranda, "Defending sports rights: the critical role of watermarking in anti-piracy efforts", accessed 2 September 2024
8. Matt Stagg, "Maximising artificial intelligence in the fight against sports piracy", accessed 20 February 2024

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