Image copyrightGetty Images/TwitchA Russian watchdog no longer plans to block Twitch over a dispute concerning pirated Premier League football games, according to the country's state media.Tass reported telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor had dropped its threat after the Amazon-owned service removed the offending content.The proposed ban had been prompted by a complaint from a firm that owns the local online rights to the matches.Rambler had claimed 36,000 cases of copyright infringement.A lawyer acting on Rambler's behalf had said on Monday that it was suing the US firm for 180bn roubles (2.1bn) in damages.
But another spokesman for the company subsequently said that sum needed to be "clarified".A source close to the matter told the TheIndianSubcontinent that Twitch now believed the case would not go any further and that it would not have to pay any compensation.Russia is the third-largest user of Twitch.
The platform's focus is video games but it also offers other live video streams and pre-recorded content.Rambler bought exclusive digital distribution rights for three seasons of the English Premier League from the Russian sports broadcaster Match-TV earlier this year.Amazon has its own interest in restricting access to the Premier League since it recently bought exclusive rights to a number of matches for its own Prime Video service in the UK.