AfterDawn: News

Feds take down FirstRow sports streaming

In an effort to shut down illegal sports streaming sites before the Super Bowl on Sunday, American prosecutors have taken down 16 popular sites including FirstRowTV.

Thousands of users use the sites to watch NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and Fifa streams, not to mention pay-per-view events like UFC or boxing.



One man, 28-year-old Yonjo Quiroa of Michigan, has been arrested and charged with being the operator behind 9 of the sites. Authorities say Quiroa made over $13,000 profit from the sites through advertisements.

The list of the sites taken down is: firstrow.tv, firstrowsports.com, firstrowsports.net, firstrowsports.tv, hq-streams.tv, robplay.tv, soccertvlive.net, sports95.com, sports95.net, sports95.org, sportswwe.net, sportswwe.tv, sportswwe.com, xonesports.tv, youwwe.com and youwwe.net.

Last year, days before the Super Bowl, as well, U.S. authorities took down 10 similar sites. As with all piracy-based activities, if you take down one, many more will just pop up to take its place, as is expected after the demise of firstrow.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 3 Feb 2012 13:30

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• 24 comments

• faja92

  13,000 profit...?
  
  LOCK THAT CRIMINAL UP!

  3.2.2012 13:38 #1

• vigeuth

  To bad the .eu address is still up (first hit for "first row sports" on google hahaha)

  3.2.2012 14:28 #2

• cpspoo

  What's the benefit in watching a stream of the Super Bowl as opposed to watching the live broadcast on television? And why do the NFL care where you watch their FREE show?
  
  None of this makes much sense to me...
  

  3.2.2012 14:29 #3

• Kannz

  just before every single sports game it says that people are not allowed to do that type of thing without expressed permission from the NFL/NBA/FIFA/NHL doesn't it?

  3.2.2012 14:43 #4

• cyprusrom

  it does matter who cashes the advertising revenue...
  
  Quote:...As with all piracy-based activities, if you take down one, many more will just pop up to take its place... Poor F3ds, that's a bit counter-productive, isn't it?

  3.2.2012 14:59 #5

• Notcow

  I'll be sure to watch the Bowl on some non-ESPN ect. website.
  

  3.2.2012 15:02 #6

• ThePastor

  Aren't the advertisers liable as well?
  What kind of "legit" company advertises on an illegal website?
  
  Take the money out of these things and it becomes much less of a problem.
  I'd like to see a list of the advertisers so we can deal with them like only the web can deal with these kinds of douchebags.
  

  "But the bigger point here is that UMG has effectively admitted this takedown was never about copyright. They demanded YouTube censor Megaupload and justify that by saying they have a contract which allows it so its fine. Its painfully clear what they would do with a law like SOPA that gives them much more power"

  3.2.2012 16:24 #7

• pensfan12

  Originally posted by cpspoo: What's the benefit in watching a stream of the Super Bowl as opposed to watching the live broadcast on television? And why do the NFL care where you watch their FREE show?
  
  None of this makes much sense to me... Probably used by people who were from countries where the game wasn't been showed live.
  

  
  

  3.2.2012 18:37 #8

• bomber991

  Originally posted by vigeuth: To bad the .eu address is still up (first hit for "first row sports" on google hahaha) God bless you good sir, and god bless the united states of america (for being unable to shut-down a .eu address)

  3.2.2012 21:46 #9

• piloxi

  Originally posted by vigeuth: To bad the .eu address is still up (first hit for "first row sports" on google hahaha)
  It doesnt matter if .eu is still up, because the man responsible for running it is in prison. Therefor he cannot set up stream feeds tobe viewed. PPV events especially

  3.2.2012 21:49 #10

• Memnock

  Originally posted by piloxi: Originally posted by vigeuth: To bad the .eu address is still up (first hit for "first row sports" on google hahaha)
  It doesnt matter if .eu is still up, because the man responsible for running it is in prison. Therefor he cannot set up stream feeds tobe viewed. PPV events especially It's still working.

  3.2.2012 22:05 #11

• Tristan_2

  These takedowns make no god damn sense, even it doesn't make sense last year as well. People who have a regular Television Subscription threw Direct TV or any other Digital Service Provider will have FOX ABC and any regular TV Station that will air the Super Bowl or any other Sporting Game or Event...theoretically were all paying for the Super Bowl in one way or another so this makes no God Damn Sense.
  

  3.2.2012 22:58 #12

• dakii

  the game is being broadcast on nbc.com this year

  3.2.2012 23:05 #13

• blaster4

  Originally posted by ThePastor: Aren't the advertisers liable as well?
  What kind of "legit" company advertises on an illegal website?
  
  Take the money out of these things and it becomes much less of a problem.
  I'd like to see a list of the advertisers so we can deal with them like only the web can deal with these kinds of douchebags. "Douchebags?" You're a nasty piece of work, aren't you? What harm are these advertisers doing to you exactly? What interest do YOU have in this that makes you spit venom like you do? Just asking is all.
  

  4.2.2012 05:06 #14

• megadunderhead

  big deal it's not what you think about this...
  
  1. the pay per view services are looking for money not the advertisers.
  
  2. why would you wanna watch pay per view pay pe view is for suckers

  4.2.2012 05:42 #15

• bryan.ike

  people stream it online free because they live in different continents where the local tv does not have tv rights to air sporting event. some people also cannot afford cable tv subscription

  4.2.2012 08:58 #16

• bryan.ike

  Originally posted by vigeuth: To bad the .eu address is still up (first hit for "first row sports" on google hahaha) hahahaha i like that. thanks for the info, cheers,
  

  am fed up with life

  4.2.2012 09:03 #17

• bryan.ike

  Originally posted by cpspoo: Whats the benefit in watching a stream of the Super Bowl as opposed to watching the live broadcast on television? And why do the NFL care where you watch their FREE show?
  
  None of this makes much sense to me... people stream it online free because they live in different continents where the local tv does not have tv rights to air sporting event. some people also cannot afford cable tv subscription
  

  am fed up with life

  4.2.2012 09:56 #18

• xboxdvl2

  i used first row sports to watch a football (or soccer if you prefer) live.got to see a manchester united game live.don't know how many of you are familiar with australias free to air tv but they dont show english football games live.pay tv is getting more expensive every year and i can't afford it.Dont even think australia shows the superbowl live on free to air tv either.
  

  R.I.P. mr 1990 ford falcon.got myself a 1993 toyota corolla seems to run good.computers still going good.

  4.2.2012 11:58 #19

• defgod

  The only reason these sites get taken down is.........
  Wait for it................
  Money.
  
  The large cable providers and the sports organizations make large amounts of money on these so called "free to air" games.
  They make large amounts of money from keeping everyone in the whole world seeing it "live".
  I even have trouble trying to watch certain football games through the season. Only because another team from my area "takes precedence over the team I want to see".
  So I have used these type of sites before because I don't have DirectTV (and don't want it) and their Sunday Ticket over priced crap.
  Nothing is really ever "free to air" anymore.
  
  

  4.2.2012 13:19 #20

• vigeuth

  To answer some uninformed questions:
  
  In other countries, the superbowl is often on pay-tv, not free over the air tv, so streams hurt potential cable revenue.
  
  Also, streams prevent advertisers (ie sponsors of the superbowl and the networks showing it) from reaching their target audience (Frito Lay doesn't want Americans seeing a German commercial for Sauerspaetzelbratenwurst instead of Lays Potato Chips)
  
  Also, the TV industry wants people buying TVs, not using their computers to fulfill their TV watching needs. The whole industry supports itself and wants to perpetuate it's delivery system to maximize profit. (Obviously, legitimate TV has been diversifying and moving to web delivery for years, but they still would prefer you sitting on the couch paying for cable and not DVRing and skipping commercials)
  
  Finally, respective owners of content have the legal right to protect their content from unauthorized reuse, so why wouldn't they make it as difficult as possible to rip off what they "own," especially when revenue is at stake.
  
  That being said, I <3 streams, and yes, the .eu address is still up and being updated regularly :)

  4.2.2012 15:36 #21

• ThinKing2130 (unverified)

  p2p4u.net never goes down for first row. That is the redirect link. Works like a charm everytime!

  4.2.2012 18:11 #22

• Steel-Ice

  The superbowl is going to be broadcast on nfl.com for free. Most of the people that watch the game online are probably at work somewhere. When I did security I use to stream football games off my laptop.
  

  5.2.2012 00:01 #23

• miracleman (unverified)

  All you need is a rabbit ears antenna, so why focus on those streaming it if its broadcast free lol

  5.2.2012 02:35 #24