Fans who watch Premier League matches for free using a Kodi set-top box could be cut off following a High Court ruling.
Mr Justice Arnold approved a bid, launched by the Premier League, to block connections showing unlicensed match streams.
Britain’s four biggest broadband providers to Virgin Media, BT, Sky and Talk Talk will now be able to shut off connections hosting pirated streams.
The Kodi set-top box was causing particular concern for BT and Sky which had both paid millions for licences to host Premier League games.
The box makes it easy for users to access pirate match streams.
The Premier League has been gathering intelligence on the sources of the illegal streams and on people supplying Kodi boxes configured to broadcast the illegal streams of top flight football matches.
It comes after five people were arrested for selling Kodi boxes.
They were arrested for selling Kodi boxes ‘fully loaded’ with illegal streaming apps.
The raids were instigated by the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), on behalf the Premier League, Sky, BT Sport and Virgin Media.
All of the arrests were in the north of England – Tameside, Bolton, Bootle, Manchester, Cheadle and Rhyl, plus one in Wales.
FACT say fully-loaded illegal TV set-top devices were seized at the homes of the five suspects.
