Russian broadcasts expose limits of football rights control
The EFL and SPFL are investigating how matches have appeared on a Russian streaming service despite neither league selling rights in the country, raising questions over feed security and control of international media distribution.
The EFL and SPFL are investigating the apparent unauthorised distribution of their matches in Russia, according to the Guardian, highlighting the difficulty of controlling live media inventory once feeds move through international distribution chains.The Guardian reported that Russian subscription and streaming service Football TV has shown multiple EFL and Scottish Premiership fixtures despite neither competition currently licensing its rights in Russia.The EFL stopped official Russian broadcasts in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has sold no rights in the market since. The Scottish Premiership similarly has no current Russian rights arrangement.According to the report, the EFL contacted Football TV after becoming aware of the broadcasts, but the service subsequently carried further matches.Some broadcasts were described on the platform as “test events”, although the source of the feeds has not been established.The Guardian reported that both leagues are trying to determine how Football TV is obtaining the content and are considering potential action against the service and any party supplying it.The SPFL is working with its international media-rights partner Infront as part of that process. The EFL and SPFL declined to comment to the Guardian.The commercial issue extends beyond conventional piracy.Territorial media-rights agreements depend on leagues and their distribution partners being able to control where live feeds are supplied, particularly where inventory has deliberately been withdrawn from a particular market.Unauthorised carriage therefore raises questions around feed security, downstream distribution, sublicensing controls and the monitoring obligations placed on companies throughout an international rights chain.The challenge becomes more complex where the destination market creates additional political, legal or enforcement difficulties.A rights holder can choose not to sell its inventory into a territory, but that decision has limited practical effect if the live product can still be sourced elsewhere and distributed without authorisation.That creates potential commercial and reputational exposure for leagues and their partners, particularly where withdrawal from the market formed part of a broader institutional response to geopolitical events.The Guardian’s reporting does not establish how Football TV obtained the feeds, and there is no evidence at this stage identifying a distributor, sublicensee or other supplier as responsible.That distinction will be central to any enforcement action.Identification of the feed source, formal legal proceedings or action against a distribution partner would represent a material next development in a case already testing the practical limits of territorial control in global football broadcasting.