LAD Takes Projector To Reading And Streams Mayweather-McGregor For Festival-Goers

This past weekend, a great many eyes were fixed upon the huge fight in Las Vegas, as Conor McGregor finally met Floyd Mayweather in the ring.

What with other things going on in England at the weekend, such as Creamfields and Ready and Leeds Festivals, it wasn't so easy for everyone to watch it. However, for around 300 people who attended Reading Festival, this wasn't the case.

One man took a projector to the campsite, streaming the fight onto the side of a boat for people to enjoy.

Credit: Supplied

Stephen Pilfold was one of the ones lucky enough to stumble across the viewing party.

"So I was talking to security and a group of lads were shouting, 'Fuck the Mayweathers,'" Stephen told LADbible. "I of course shouted it back, and then asked them if they were watching it.

"They advised me someone was streaming it by the canal. When I went over at about 3am there were around five people there, but word quickly spread."

Soon enough people were there in their hundreds to see the highly anticipated fight, all thanks to the 'everyday capeless hero'.

Stephen explained that following the fight, when Mayweather was declared the winner, the crowd quickly dispersed. "The ref lifted his arms and everyone shouted and then left," he said.

Reading

Crowds at this year's Reading Festival. Credit: PA

Whether the stream was official or not remains to be seen, but either way he's the hero no one knew they needed.

Many people paid through the nose to watch it live, while American viewers at home had to cough up nearly $100 (£77) to watch it on PPV. Meanwhile, Brits faced a fee of around £20 ($26) to watch it on Sky Box Office.

Around three million people reportedly opted to watch it via an illegal stream. In fact there were 239 streams, with 165 of them being posted to Facebook, YouTube or other social media platforms as live feeds, whereas 67 were through regular streaming sites.

Kodi, as you'd expect, had a few, with a reported total of six available as an add-on through the 'illicit' streaming platform.

The moment it all ended. Credit: PA

For those who did choose a dodgy stream to watch one of the most talked about fights ever may face fines. The Daily Mail reports that many of those streaming the fight through an unofficial source saw a watermark pop up on their feed with a random selection of letters and numbers.

That mystery code, according to TorrentFreak - an online publication dedicated to news about copyright and file-sharing - was quite possibly placed there by licensed broadcasters in order to track down pirates.

The site stated: "The numbers would allow (the broadcaster) to track the illicit stream back to a subscriber and/or a set-top box tied to a particular account.

"Since that subscriber has then re-streamed that content back online illegally, the code would act as a homing beacon and could spell bad news for the individual involved."

"Think of all the money we made." Credit: PA

TorrentFreak also suggests the code could also have been placed there by the pirate sites themselves.

"Pirate streams are vulnerable to being 'stolen' in much the same way that official streams are," the publication said, "so it's possible that a provider wanted to keep tabs on where its streams were ending up."

If the watermarks were placed there by licensed broadcasters, it could mean serious fines - or even jail time - for those hosting illegal streams of the fight on YouTube, Facebook or blogs.

Topics: Conor Mcgregor, Floyd Mayweather

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.