The Qatari beIN Media Group, whose sports channel fell victim to a sophisticated piracy operation allegedly backed by Saudi Arabia, claims that the methods used have been adopted by other groups on a more global basis and threaten to erode the value of premium sports rights. The group has been lobbying broadcasters and content owners to raise their game against piracy and adopt the latest technologies including forensic watermarking to present a more united front. A key point is that while watermarking is an essential tool for combatting live online sports piracy, it can only be effective in combination with other measures. This point has been made by developers of watermarking technology from the outset, but now a growing number…