Feds Seize Popular Sports Streaming Site Used by New Yorkers

A major streaming site that boasted over 15 million monthly visitors had its domain abruptly seized by Homeland Security.

If you're a sports fan, chances are you've heard of the name Streameast. The website let fans watch live games for free, allowing them to bypass monthly subscription fees or paywalls.

Unfortunately for sports fans, Homeland Security suddenly seized the website and its relevant domain names.

Instead of being met with options to catch up with a live game, visitors are met with a stern message from federal authorities:

This domain name has been seized by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) pursuant to a warrant issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana under the authority of inter alia, Title 18, United States Code, Section 2323.

The message goes on to accuse the website of illegally distributing copyrighted material "including sporting events, television shows, movies, music, software, or games."

This comes after LeBron James made headlines for being caught using Streameast to watch a game,  and fans blasted the basketballer out of fear it would get banned.

While their worst nightmare did come true, a Streameast admin named "Quick" vowed on the site's official Discord channel that he's not going away quietly.

Quick also hinted the takedown was targeted since other harmful pirating websites were left untouched.

The service has since launched "more decoy streams" and implemented "self replicating private servers" to further throw off feds.

Streameast also claimed to having "more domains than Apple and Google combined."

As of print time, their new domain is up and running.

No matter how one feels about pirating and copyright, streaming has become ridiculously expensive. The irony is the whole reason people began signing up for streaming services was to escape the high cost of cable TV.

The term "Streamflation" is very real, as Max, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, and Peacock keep implementing jaw dropping price hikes.

Fool reports people paying for just the cheapest, ad-supported options of the "Big 5" (Netflix, Prime, Disney+, Max and Hulu) pay roughly $50 a month. The cost for to their lowest-tier, ad-free options rises to roughly $78.

Meanwhile, the average cable plan charges about $83 a month. The website points out it costs Americans just $5 more to go ad-free on the top 5 streaming services than for cable with 189 channels.

While more people are turning to pirating and torrenting, which is risky considering most "free" sites are scams or riddled with malware, many feel it's worth the risk.

Read More: Massive Fireball Streaks across NY, Causes Explosive Boom

Considering internet piracy was credited for cable TV's undoing and the birth of streaming, do you think it will also be the undoing of subscription streaming?

Also, ironically, people jumped onto the streaming ship to get away from commercials... and now look at where we are.

Share your thoughts with us using the station app's chat feature below.

Get our free mobile app