Major Label Owned VEVO Shows Pirated NFL Show At Sundance

VEVO, the music video powerhouse owned primarily by Universal and Sony and including content from EMI, would seem to be the last company to knowingly stream pirated video at a major event. But that's exactly what they did at their recent Sundance party and the NFL's Patriots vs Ravens playoff game.

The feed "had apparently been accessed via a site called Frontrow.tv," according to TechCrunch's Jason Kincaid, who was at the event. "…So I went to the source to verify my suspicions: ESPN. Which confirmed that neither site has the rights to stream its content. In other words, yes — that game was indeed being pirated. In fact, Frontrow.tv has since apparently gone dark, likely as a result of a recent crackdown by federal authorities on sports sites with pirated content."

"Given that the venue probably had access to a cable subscription (or perhaps an antenna, given that this was broadcast over the air)," continued Kincaid, "I’m not sure why it would decide to go the piracy route."

Why, indeed?