Illegal streamers face court

Ten people will face prosecution for illegally streaming Joseph Parker's successful defence of his world heavyweight crown.

Sky TV spokeswoman Kirsty Way said the broadcaster would be taking action against those caught in the act, while hundreds more streams were taken down from Facebook and YouTube on Saturday night.

Way said it was "very disappointing" viewers were continuing to effectively steal the content.

"To be fair we are getting better at finding and taking them down so those numbers might look inflated," she said.

Parker, who laboured to a unanimous points decision against giant Romanian Razvan Cojanu in Auckland on Saturday night, had issued a pre-bout warning against illegal streams, telling fans it was taking money "away from those that are working hard". 

"My message is don't do it because it is illegal for a reason, and if I catch you you're going to be in trouble," Parker said.

"I feel there's a lot of people working hard behind the scenes to get the fights going and showing things on TV."

Sky TV and Parker's promoters Duco Events have employed increasingly sophisticated measures to counter the illegal streamers.

Before the fight, Sky TV chief executive John Fellet said Sky would "fingerprint" the streaming signal to locate the source of the illegal broadcast.

The broadcaster has successfully prosecuted 13 people in civil claims "to make our point", Fellet said.

 

Photo By: HANNAH PETERS/Getty Images (Parker shares a moment with trainer Kevin Barry before his victory over Razvan Cojanu).