Watching sports at a warung or mamak with your friends is one of Malaysia’s favourite cultures. Whenever there’s a big sports event like the FIFA World Cup or the BWF World Championships, we will go watch it outside, sipping on Teh Tarik and enjoying our favourite Nasi Lemak or Maggi Goreng. But that might be a thing of the past soon.
The Edge Markets reported that the Kuala Lumpur High Court has rendered a landmark decision that establishes a precedent that it is unlawful for commercial establishments to broadcast content from unauthorized sources.
According to Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, a local commercial establishment violated the law by airing unauthorised broadcasts of sports and entertainment content, including the English Premier League (EPL).
The directors of 42 East Pub and Restaurants in KL were showing content in their premises without a legitimate commercial broadcast subscription to Astro.
Future legal actions could lead to significant financial and legal consequences for anyone found to be showing infringing content in their commercial premises.
Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd.
According to Astro, this decision follows recent changes to the Copyright Act 2022, which strengthened laws against copyright infringement and gave authorities more power to take action against people who sell unlawful streaming devices and operate illegal websites.
Astro group, chief executive officer-designate, Euan Smith, said Astro is dedicated to collaborating closely with law enforcement, business leaders, and the Premier League to fight piracy and to motivate businesses to only watch live sports on reputable, legal platforms.
Astro is the only legitimate way for you to watch EPL in Malaysia. The company holds the right to broadcast EPL until 2025.
Even if you subscribe to Astro, you still can’t air anything you want at your shop because the subscription is only meant for personal consumption. If you want to broadcast sports content for your customers to enjoy while they are dining, you have to subscribe to AstroBIZ commercial packages.
