UEFA appoints Friend MTS to provide global anti-piracy services

Friend MTS has been appointed by UEFA, the governing body of European football, to provide anti-piracy services in respect of all major UEFA competitions, across both club and national teams.

The company will provide UEFA with an array of services, including monitoring and enforcement, to combat piracy in all of its forms (other than in respect of social media platforms which are to be addressed separately) and preserve the value of its media rights worldwide. UEFA joins existing Friend MTS customers that include The English Premier League, Lega Serie A, TNT Sports Chile and Argentina Football.

“It’s an exciting time for Friend MTS with UEFA joining our portfolio of high-profile sports customers who are experiencing first hand the value of protecting their content,” said Jonathan Friend, chief product officer at Friend MTS. “From our extensive experience, gained from over two decades in content security, we know that world football serves as a driver for large-scale piracy and it’s imperative for sports rightsholders to go beyond traditional content protection measures to disrupt piracy and to safeguard the value of the rights and content that they work so hard to develop.”