28 illegal sports streaming sites found operating freely despite repeated blocks

Sports matches that require a paid subscription of nearly 20,000 won ($15) a month on streaming platforms are being broadcast live for free on illegal websites, an investigation has found.

The findings expose a regulatory blind spot, as some of the sites had previously been blocked by the Korea Communications Standards Commission and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The situation is drawing growing concern from the streaming industry, which has been ramping up investment to secure sports broadcasting rights.

Reporters found numerous illegal live-streaming sites operating online where viewers can watch sports such as overseas baseball and soccer without paying anything.

Reporters identified at least 28 such sites. They appeared near the top of Google search results when users searched terms like "○○TV," and were fully accessible. The sites carried La Liga matches featuring South Korean player Lee Kang-in, as well as other overseas games involving prominent Korean athletes.

The core problem is that a significant portion of the content streamed on these sites is sold legally in South Korea through paid services.

Watching popular overseas soccer leagues — including La Liga, where Lee plays, and the English Premier League — requires a subscription to Coupang Play's Sports Pass. Major League Baseball games are available through a paid Spotv subscription.

Coupang Play's Sports Pass costs 19,300 won per month for new subscribers. Spotv subscriptions range from 9,900 won a month for the basic tier to 19,900 won for the premium plan.

The scale of illegal site usage is also significant. According to web traffic analytics firm Similarweb, one of the 28 sites recorded approximately 780,000 unique visitors in July alone.

On Aug. 24 — the day Lee played in a La Liga match — that site logged 330,000 visits, including repeat visitors, the highest single-day figure for August. A rough calculation based on Coupang Play's Sports Pass monthly subscription fee suggests that about 6.37 billion won in potential revenue was diverted through illegal channels that day.

Critics say the regulatory framework for combating illegal sports streaming has developed serious gaps. The Korea Communications Standards Commission and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism jointly handle such cases, taking measures including access blocks based on rights-holder complaints or routine monitoring.

Some of the 28 sites had previously been subject to corrective orders from regulators. The Korea Communications Standards Commission confirmed it had previously blocked access to some of the sites on grounds including promoting gambling and other speculative behavior.

Repeated government-level blocking has also been common. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the ministry issued 76 emergency access blocks targeting illegal sports streaming sites between late May and late July. Of those, 26 were repeat blocks of the same sites — roughly one in three of all blocks issued.

The ministry said some illegal sites quickly set up replacement sites with new domain addresses after being blocked, or used encryption technology to circumvent restrictions, reducing the effectiveness of access blocks.

The industry is concerned that illegal streaming is driving paid subscribers away at a time when domestic streaming platforms — including Coupang Play, Tving and Wavve — are expanding their investment in sports broadcasting rights.

"As the value of sports broadcasting rights grows both at home and abroad, and streaming companies increase their investment accordingly, the spread of illegal streaming undermines their incentive to invest," said Noh Chang-hee, director of the Digital Industry Policy Research Institute. "Current regulations and technology alone are not enough to shut down illegal distribution sites — supplementary measures are needed."

An industry official said the situation amounted to a serious blow to companies. "Paying subscribers are being lost to illegal streams, which is a major setback for businesses," the official said. "The damage extends beyond simple revenue loss — it affects the entire ecosystem, including the production and operations staff involved in sports broadcasting, so urgent countermeasures are needed."