I don't follow this forum and a quick search returned no results...so I decided to go ahead and post this. Sorry if this is already common knowledge here...don't flame me.
Here is the letter that Lorenzo wrote to Congress in November in support of SOPA.
http://judiciary.house.gov/issues/Ro...C%20Letter.pdf
November 22,2011
The Honorable Lamar Smith
Chairman
U.S. House of Representatives
2409 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Smith:
I write in support of H.R. 3261, the "Stop Online Piracy Act," which you
recently introduced. This is a critical piece oflegislation that directly affects the
Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC) and many other U.S.-based companies
that create American jobs by producing live sporting events. Presently, the UFC,
Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National
Football League, and many other American sporting businesses are threatened by
the unlawful live streaming of our telecasts.
The piracy of live sporting events is illegal, it kills jobs, and it threatens
the expansion of U.S.-based companies. This is the issue that keeps us up at
night, and we are very concerned about the continued theft of our shows.
In 2001, my brother and I along with our friend Dana White, purchased
the nearly bankrupt UFC. We saw great potential in the UFC when many thought
we were crazy. We took a great risk, but today the UFC is a phenomenal success,
creating and impacting thousands of jobs for our athletes, licensees, partners, and
affiliates. That success is threatened by the theft and retransmission of our live
pay-per-view events and telecasts, which account for a significant portion of our
revenues. Our copyright-protected works are critical to our survival, yet there are
infringing web sites where one can find almost any type of pirated content,
including live UFC events, NFL, NBA, and MLB games, the Olympics, and
virtually every TV show and movie. If copyrighted works are allowed to be
pirated with impunity, the potential effects on U.S. producers of entertainment
programming, including the thousands of jobs that they create, will be disastrous.
When I testified before the Committee in December 2009, this was a big
problem for the UFC. It is even bigger now and will likely get worse. The UFC
is potentially losing tens of millions of dollars a year from piracy. With a simple
adapter purchased from any retail electronic store, someone with access to one of
our live events can reproduce the program and retransmit it over the Internet with
the aid of web sites designed to stream video. The site then allows any user to
view the programming without authorization or payment. These unauthorized
viewers watch the live event just like those who lawfully purchased the content
through pay-per-view, except they don't pay.
The UFC constantly employs new technologies to provide our fans with
the content they love and in the fonnat they desire, and we support and encourage
the development of innovative ways to deliver our content. However, the use of
technology to circumvent intellectual property laws and aid the piracy of
copyrighted works is something that neither we, the American people, nor its
Congress should tolerate.
The Stop Online Piracy Act is a significant step forward. It will bring
accountability to those who steal proprietary live broadcasts. It will preserve the
value of lawful intellectual-property rights. And it will save American jobs.
Thank you for your leadership on this important issue.
Sincerely,
Lorenzo J. Fertitta
Chief Executive Officer
Ultimate Fighting Championship
