Law No. 2026-725 of 3 August 2026 on the organization, management and financing of professional sport
The economic model of professional sport in France relies heavily on the value of broadcasting rights. That value is now being undermined by the growth of large-scale piracy, particularly through IPTV offerings and illegal streaming services.
Combating these practices raises a particular difficulty: when a competition is broadcast live, a blocking measure is genuinely effective only if implemented while the event is taking place. Action taken after the final whistle is often of limited—if any—value.
Law No. 2026-725 of 3 August 2026 on the organization, management and financing of professional sport addresses numerous aspects of the sector. This article focuses on the provisions strengthening Arcom’s powers to combat the piracy of live sports broadcasts.
- Dynamic injunctions put to the test by live broadcasting
The Law of 25 October 2021 marked a significant step in the fight against sports piracy by introducing the dynamic injunction mechanism in Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code. Following that reform, rights holders could apply to the president of the judicial court for an order requiring the blocking, removal or delisting of services unlawfully broadcasting a sporting competition. The order could cover not only services already identified, but also “mirror sites” emerging at a later stage. Once the order had been issued, Arcom was responsible for receiving notices from rights holders and updating the list of domain names and IP addresses to be blocked by internet service providers (ISPs). The mechanism therefore made it possible to update the measures ordered by the court without having to bring fresh proceedings for each newly identified mirror site.
In practice, however, the operational limitations of the mechanism quickly became apparent, particularly because users migrated extensively to IPTV and live obfuscation techniques became more sophisticated. Illegal services could change their domain name, IP address or server during a match. The time required to identify them and implement blocking measures could therefore render those measures ineffective before the event had ended, allowing the economic harm to continue.
- The 2026 reform: enabling Arcom to act in real time
The Law of 3 August 2026 specifically seeks to narrow the gap between the length of the procedure and the period during which an unlawful broadcast remains available. To that end, it amends Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code and introduces Articles L. 333-12 to L. 333-15, strengthening Arcom’s powers to combat illegal sports broadcasts.
The reform is based on the premise that the effectiveness of a blocking measure largely depends on how quickly it is implemented. In the context of sports broadcasts, action taken too late may lose much of its practical value.
The new Article L. 333-12 provides for the automated transmission to Arcom of data identifying illegal streams detected by rights holders while a competition is being broadcast. This is intended to shorten the time between the detection of a pirated stream and the implementation of blocking measures, which is particularly critical for live broadcasts.
The courts nevertheless retain a central role. Arcom has no independent power to order the blocking of a service on its own initiative. Its intervention remains subject to judicial decisions issued under the French Sports Code.
- A more stringent enforcement framework
The reform also includes an enforcement component.
Article L. 333-13 of the French Sports Code now makes it an offence to make available to the public an online public communication service that unlawfully broadcasts a sporting event. The penalties may include up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of €300,000. Article L. 333-14 also allows courts to order the withdrawal from commercial channels of devices or software designed to facilitate such practices.
Arcom’s powers in relation to the technical intermediaries responsible for implementing blocking measures have also been strengthened. In the event of a breach, the Authority may impose a penalty of up to €75,000 or 1% of worldwide turnover excluding tax for the preceding financial year, with those caps doubled in the event of a repeat breach.
This development forms part of the gradual expansion of the range of parties involved in combating piracy. Initially focused on internet service providers, blocking measures now also extend to search engines, alternative DNS providers and certain VPN services.
This approach was already based on closer cooperation between rights holders and technical intermediaries. In an opinion dated 6 May 2026, Arcom had, pursuant to Article L. 333-10 of the French Sports Code, published several model agreements designed to facilitate the transmission of the identification data required to implement blocking and delisting measures.
- The need for market participants to take action
Strengthening Arcom’s powers will not, however, be sufficient on its own to address a largely international phenomenon.
The effectiveness of the framework also depends on rights holders, broadcasters and competition organizers, whose technical expertise remains essential to detecting unlawful broadcasts and identifying the streams concerned.
The agreement announced on 11 September 2026 between CANAL+ and LaLiga illustrates this approach. The two organizations intend to pool their technologies, detection tools and enforcement capabilities across nearly fifty countries in Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and Haiti. Although this initiative is separate from the framework established by the French Sports Code, it addresses the same reality: illegal distribution networks are mobile, cross-border and capable of rapidly re-establishing themselves.
The Law of 3 August 2026 therefore does not alter the overall structure of the framework introduced in 2021. Its primary purpose is to improve the framework’s responsiveness to the specific constraints of live broadcasting.
