France just handed its regulator the power to block pirate sports streams while the match is still being played.
Parliament adopted the professional sports reform law on July 21, 2026, and Article 10 of that text rewrites Article L. 333-10 of the sports code.
The old rule forced Arcom’s sworn agents to manually confirm each domain was illegal before internet providers could pull the plug, a process that took days.
Live sports don’t wait days. A stolen stream is worthless the moment the final whistle blows, so by the time a block landed the damage was already done.
How the New French Blocking System Works
Under the new system, Arcom pushes freshly spotted targets out to providers mid-broadcast and those providers have to act without delay.
The pre-check disappears. Oversight moves to audits after the fact, and anyone caught in the net can appeal to Arcom’s president even while the event is still running.
The obligation doesn’t stop at internet providers either. DNS resolvers and VPN companies sit inside the same blocking perimeter, which is the same reach we covered when France leaned on major VPN brands and again when the courts extended orders to DNS resolvers.
Foreign rights holders got a gift too. Groups like LaLiga and the Premier League can file blocking actions directly in French courts now.
Hide Your Digital Fingerprint
Arcom pointed to Italy’s Piracy Shield as the model here, and that’s the part that worries me. Piracy Shield knocked Cloudflare and a pile of unrelated websites offline, and European providers responded by demanding rights holders be held liable for the wreckage.
L’Informé also reported a private deal between rights holders including Canal Plus, beIN Sport and the LFP and the providers, which tested real-time IP blocking during the 2026 World Cup.
What Happens Before It Switches On?
The machine isn’t live yet. Rollout is expected later in 2026, and existing court orders still run on the old manual track. The Paris court issued one of those on July 8, 2026, covering nine providers for the 2026/2027 season and listing 30 domains such as kzontop.com, ligue1live.xyz and sportsurge100.is.
Final Thoughts from Troy
Thirty domains in a single July order tells you exactly how this ends, because the thirty first will be online before kickoff. France has already tried going after subscribers with fines and automating IPTV blocks, and the streams keep coming back under new names.
Blocking faster only makes the whac a mole faster. Leagues would win more subscribers by making legitimate access affordable than by chasing domains during halftime.
For more details on this story, refer to the report from TorrentFreak and the commission text from the French National Assembly.
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