Wait, does that also mean bars have to police what people are watching on their phone, otherwise risking big fines?

E.g. I go to the pub, have a drink and watch some random LaLiga match on my phone?

No, the bar pays something like 10x the price of a normal subscription to be able to publicly show live Sports as a draw for their customers.

In UK/Ireland you can easily identify if the venue in question is paying for the commercial package as it will intermittently display a pint glass symbol in a bottom corner of the screen. Indeed, Sky investigators, who do spot checks, use it to quickly ensure that the pub has a valid pub contract and not a residential contract.

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/668952/why-pub-TV...

La Liga are presumably muxing infrasonic audio into their residential streams to try and:

(a) watermark the residential account(s) used to provide the streaming services so they can prosecute the providers

(b) Detect commercial usage of residential accounts used in piracy to prosecute the venues, by listening out via the App.

They could presumably get around GDPR by virtue of the fact they're only listening and recording audio out of human audible range, and only for identification of copyright infringement as per the TOS of the La Liga App.

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eightysixfour 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I don't believe that's what OP is asking, they mean to ask about the following scenario:

1. Someone sitting next to you in a bar is playing a match on their phone, but the bar is not.

2. Your phone has the app installed and hears the match.

3. La Liga sues the bar?

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moduspol 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Presumably then La Liga investigates the bar in-person. Or waits until X reports have occurred over Y duration and THEN have someone investigate in-person.

	▲	progbits 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		You are giving them a lot more credit than their behavior deserves.

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Aurornis 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I doubt it. They’re not going to take a case to court for a single hit because it would be so easily dismissed.

They would have higher priority situations where dozens of phones hit at the same time in the same bar.

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3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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NoMoreNicksLeft 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

>In UK/Ireland you can easily identify if the venue in question is paying for the commercial package as it will intermittently display a pint glass symbol in a bottom corner of the screen. Indeed, Sky investigators, who do spot checks, use it to quickly ensure that the pub has a valid pub contract and not a residential contract.

That seems as if it would be so easy to fake...

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mcbridematt 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Aside from the changing pint glass color and level, the Sky set top box / decoder, will also overlay the subscription ID at random intervals and locations.

I don't know if Sky does it, but Foxtel in Australia, in addition to the pint glass watermark, have a separate set of channels for public venues, which have different ad breaks/content to residential subscriptions. (https://www.foxtelmedia.com.au/foxtel-media-network/fox-venu...)

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fragmede 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Does it cost more less time/effort for the bar to fake it though? The price of 200€/month above seems low enough to just pay it.

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smelendez 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I think that's it.

I assume the pint glass pops up at intervals that the investigators would know and the general public would not, so you'd need some kind of central service with someone watching the commercial stream and showing/hiding the pint glass at the right intervals. In which case it would make more sense to operate a central service just pirating the commercial stream, which I'm sure does happen and does get shut down.

	▲	NoMoreNicksLeft 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		>I assume the pint glass pops up at intervals that the investigators would know and the general public would not, This would be the smart way to do it. But now think about how you'd do it the lazy way...

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jonathantf2 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

A pub near us got quoted near £1500 a month just for one service, you have to have 3 separate ones to watch all the games. Risking a fine might be cheaper than paying that for some

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1317 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The pint glass also changes colour