Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times • Hacker News Board

Re: Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times

#141

Post by mrtksn » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 6:23 PM UTC

llbbdd wrote: post #30

Assuming that "piracy is a service problem, not a pricing problem" is still the prevailing wisdom, what is Spain / La Liga doing wrong that sports piracy is so prevalent as to warrant this? It seems like a no-brainer to expand stream availability and charge appropriately for it vs. scheduling daily kneecaps of other economic activity.

This seems like they are aiming to increase profit margins instead of increasing the supply and decreasing the price. Considering that increasing the supply is trivial in digital products, maybe they are competing in a saturated market?

Spaniards attitudes can be quite different from the American ones, Americans just pay for everything for convenience, in Spain you probably need to match the price of the IPTV to steal their customers.

Apparently IPTV costs 20 to 60 Euros per year, the legal option is over 100 euros per month.

To match the IPTV they need 20x price reduction. This would mean that they need sign in 20x more Spaniards to break even with the current situation. Are there 20x more Spaniards pirating the LaLiga than paying? Even in Spain I don’t think so.

Re: Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times

#142

Post by Manuel_D » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 6:24 PM UTC

llbbdd wrote: post #30

Assuming that "piracy is a service problem, not a pricing problem" is still the prevailing wisdom, what is Spain / La Liga doing wrong that sports piracy is so prevalent as to warrant this? It seems like a no-brainer to expand stream availability and charge appropriately for it vs. scheduling daily kneecaps of other economic activity.

Piracy isn't a service problem. Many people just want to consume media for free. It's true that poor service can exacerbate piracy, but even a good service isn't enough to dissuade pirates. Games that are completely convenient to download on Steam are still pirated.

Some people are pushed to pirate on account of bad service, sure. But plenty of others are more than willing to tolerate worse service to receive a product for free.

Re: Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times

#143

Post by TacticalCoder » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 6:24 PM UTC

themafia wrote: post #109

jwr wrote: post #9

This is incredibly stupid, but don't laugh at Spaniards: your (and my) lawmakers are equally likely to enact similarly stupid laws. It's mind-boggling how stupid the world can be sometimes.

> how stupid the world can be This isn't stupidity. It's corruption.

> This isn't stupidity. It's corruption.

Those two go hands in hands.

Re: Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times

#144

Post by Aurornis » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 6:24 PM UTC

llbbdd wrote: post #30

Assuming that "piracy is a service problem, not a pricing problem" is still the prevailing wisdom, what is Spain / La Liga doing wrong that sports piracy is so prevalent as to warrant this? It seems like a no-brainer to expand stream availability and charge appropriately for it vs. scheduling daily kneecaps of other economic activity.

> Assuming that "piracy is a service problem, not a pricing problem" is still the prevailing wisdom

I don't have experience with broadcast media (in Spain, especially) but I a little experience on the software side: I could not believe the lengths some people would go to in order to avoid paying even $5-10 for useful software. Hours of work, sketchy cracks, downloading things from websites likely to compromise their system. Some of them would become irate when the software was updated and broke their cracks, spending time complaining loudly on forums and social media or even trying to threaten developers. The strangest part is when they start posting from social media where you can see things like their $3,000 gaming PC build, but if they see a chance to avoid paying $10-20 for something they will take it.

It becomes culturally embedded in some bubbles: If it's possible to find a way to avoid paying and there are no consequences for trying, some people will go for it.

I don't even buy the "it's a service problem" argument either. I have a friend who loves to watch sports games but refused to pay for any services. He will spend 30 minutes jumping from one website to the next enduring crazy amounts of ads, pop-ups, and attempts to get him to install things on his computer until finally getting to a blocky stream that drops out every few minutes. He can easily afford to pay, but getting things without paying is basically a little game he likes to play.

Re: Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times

#145

Post by storus » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 6:25 PM UTC

isodev wrote: post #110

vaylian wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. The chat control 2.0 law includes blocking orders. And Ursula von der Leyen tried to introduce internet censorship when she was still in German politics.

You’re forgetting the EU is composed of people elected and appointed by member countries. If you don’t like certain policies - contact your MEPs and express your views. Also go vote during your next election. It’s called a democracy for a reason.

That's oversimplification. EU is composed of people vetted by lobbyist/old money groups, elected and approved by member countries. Their primary allegiance is not to the voter.

Re: Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times

#146

Post by embedding-shape » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 6:25 PM UTC

llbbdd wrote: post #105

torben-friis wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Football in Spain is usually sold by what used to be cable tv (now a mix of cable + Netflix-like streaming). Usually to get access to matches you need the most expensive package, which includes a bajillion services and might even be tied to a cell/internet provider. Footbal is their "killer feature" that enables 200 euro subscriptions. They also sell "business access", so pubs can show the match, since going to the b…

This makes sense and the structure is similar to how sports packages are sold on US tv providers. It's getting somewhat better with more sports being streamed on big providers like Amazon but you more or less still have to pay out the ass and have to deal with local/national market exclusivity deals that make certain games unavailable. I guess the question I'd have then is the economics of the pirate providers; I'm a…

> Do they charge some nominal amount for access

The ones I've seen in wide use literally are "load page, click on Stream 1, it starts, if it breaks/looks shit, click on Stream 2 and repeat until good stream found", and also filled with ads, so I'm guessing they mostly run on ad-money. Most visitors aren't really technically inclined, I think I've lost count how many times I've helped people install ad-blockers once they try to get a stream running while a group of people are waiting.

Re: Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times

#147

Post by loloquwowndueo » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 6:26 PM UTC

embedding-shape wrote: post #134

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dubbed content is ok for young children I guess.

I'd probably say that most of my early English was learnt by reading subtitles and listening to American cartoons and shows on TV while eating breakfast before school. If it was dubbed, probably once I got my first computer I'd have a way harder time understanding at least the tiny bits I did understand.

> reading subtitles

So you were already reading. What about younger children?

That said - I fully agree, I’m surprised I don’t speak with a Star Trek accent given where I had most of my early exposure to English.

Re: Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times

#148

Post by nozzlegear » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 6:26 PM UTC

stackghost wrote: post #46

nradov wrote: post #26

It's always hilarious to see HN users claim how the "quality of life" is so much better in the EU than the USA. When in reality most of them only ever visit a handful of EU first-tier cities for short vacations or business trips, and never have to deal with the reality of living and working under an oppressive bureaucratic state.

The USA consistently ranks outside the top 10 countries in Quality of Life by any reputable metric.

Any metric that treats the US as one single data point instead of 50 should be taken with a grain of salt. Denmark has 6 million residents, Minnesota has 5.7 million. You can't compare an entire continental nation, whose 50 states all set their own 50 different health, education and public spending policies, against e.g. Sweden or Spain. That's a bad comparison.

Re: Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times

#149

Post by sunaookami » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 6:26 PM UTC

vaylian wrote: post #96

conradfr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU is more likely to enact more censorship than other way.

This. The chat control 2.0 law includes blocking orders. And Ursula von der Leyen tried to introduce internet censorship when she was still in German politics.

Tried? She already did EU-wide with the RT ban. Doesn't matter what your opinion on russian state media is, the censorship regime is now in place and it's easy to expand. (Not to mention the EU describes itself as democratic yet has the need to censor)

Re: Spain to expand internet blocks to tennis, golf, movies broadcasting times

#150

Post by sunaookami » Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 6:27 PM UTC

isodev wrote: post #110

vaylian wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. The chat control 2.0 law includes blocking orders. And Ursula von der Leyen tried to introduce internet censorship when she was still in German politics.

You’re forgetting the EU is composed of people elected and appointed by member countries. If you don’t like certain policies - contact your MEPs and express your views. Also go vote during your next election. It’s called a democracy for a reason.

You can't vote for the EU commission and the parliament has no power.