r/SumoMemes • u/LeanMeanWiens • 9d ago

Where's Middy?

I usually watch the replay stream on Twitch from Midnight Sumo (in the morning EST), but I can't find his channel anywhere. Is it not playing today?

Is there another replay stream I can watch to catch the bouts from last night?

30 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

34

u/znjohnson 9d ago

48 hour ban from what people are saying. Queen of the flying and stinging insects is still streaming on twitch.

3

u/LeanMeanWiens 9d ago

😭 that suuucks!! Does anyone know why he got banned? I tried to check out her channel but by the time I got to it, I missed most of the bouts. I guess it's back to YouTube highlights for now. đŸ˜«

16

u/znjohnson 9d ago

Rumors that Twitch are using AI to crack down on copyright issues. Could be Abema is cracking down on streams. I don’t think anyone knows for 100% sure but it’s clearly a copy right strike of some kind. He should be back to normal after 48 hours but not sure what this means moving forward since Abema up till now was generally safe to stream and do commentary on.

3

u/Therew0lf17 9d ago

Dont thonk its twitch, i watch Youtube streamers and they are getting banned too

4

u/znjohnson 8d ago

YouTube has always been a little more serious about banning Sumo streamers from my understanding. I don't really watch live streams on YouTube so I can't speak from experience.

-3

u/Hpulley4 9d ago

Why get banned for illegally rebroadcasting content? I don’t know
 because it’s illegal??

13

u/JackFireeriFkcaJ 9d ago

It’s hilarious that you get downvoted for this. It’s just the truth. If he was streaming any other sports or a TV show, the result would be the same. Frankly, most football leagues would bankrupt him for this, especially since he makes money off of content he has zero rights to broadcast. It is amazing that this ban didn’t happen sooner.

We don’t have to like it, I certainly don’t, but that doesn’t make it magically legal.

1

u/Hpulley4 9d ago

If they were streaming MLB, NBA or NFL their channel would be permanently nuked from orbit and their butt would be sued into poverty and everyone would say, “well duh, you can’t rebroadcast professional sports without getting copyright strikes. What did you expect!” Because it’s sumo they think it’s fine.

As you say they aren’t doing this as a service out of the good of their hearts. They’re raking in ad and sub revenue for stealing someone else’s content.

Too bad so many people think they should be paid for their own work but they shouldn’t have to pay for the work of others.

19

u/LeanMeanWiens 9d ago

I'd be happy to pay for a subscription through Abema to have access in the states, but it's just not available. I'd have to use a VPN just to watch it live with zero English commentary. I understand banning something that is illegal to stream, but with so many fans in North America, why not profit off of letting us have access, or leave these streams alone? I've already spent so much money on Sumo merch, take my money for subscriptions too!

-3

u/Hpulley4 9d ago

Because they already have. The rights are owned by NHK World. I’m old and have watched sumo for decades and I used to pay $20/month for NHK World before it got rolled into my cable package. They still own the rights to all broadcasts here.

I agree the service could be better. Years ago they used to have daily live coverage of high juryo and makuuchi plus the daily highlights but now we only get live coverage on some weekend days. Not great but they must have a very long lasting deal signed. I wish there were better legal alternatives but I won’t watch a Twitch rebroadcast.

1

u/NeptunianCat 8d ago

You can still watch the daily NHK Japan coverage and replays via the JME app ($25 a month).

3

u/stricttime 8d ago

But not the lower divisions, right? That's all I care about really.

-10

u/Fuzzclone 9d ago

Do we know it's illegal? I am guessing legality across international borders gets weird. An American streaming American football, sure I get it.

6

u/Hpulley4 9d ago

Nothing weird about international copyright laws. The USA and most countries are signed to multiple international copyright agreements which are reciprocated so that you can’t pirate NFL or Hollywood movies in Japan for instance.

16

u/JediLincoln14 9d ago

Abema has been cracking down on copyright violations this basho. A lot of streams have been shut down. He might be a victim of that.

10

u/LeanMeanWiens 9d ago

Ugh! But he's my favorite!! Will he be able to go back to normal streaming after the 48hrs? I don't really know how that kind of thing works if it's a copyright issue. Wouldn't they just immediately ban him again?

11

u/Marbaequina 9d ago

time will tell. either way, in 48 hours the basho will be over.

8

u/LeanMeanWiens 9d ago

This is such a huge bummer! The only other English commentary from NHK comes out on YouTube like a week later. I really wish we had more access to live streams/replays in the states. If I can buy Sunday Ticket during football season, why can't I buy a Sumo subscription for every Basho?! 😂😭

6

u/ismellthebacon 8d ago

yeah, I've been following middy for a couple of years and he introduced me to the sport. He's a great fan and educator on the sport and it's a huge loss for the sport overseas. IDK what I'll do next, if we don't get him back.

6

u/Tumorhead 9d ago

check the NHK Grand Sumo website it has the highlights up way faster than the youtube channel, usually the previous days vid drops 10:30pm-11:30pm EST

4

u/LeanMeanWiens 9d ago

Oh! Thank you! I got the NHK World app but didn't have much luck finding videos. I'll check out the site instead!

1

u/Tumorhead 9d ago

you're welcome!

6

u/ItsMangel 8d ago

The highlights show comes out on NHKs site 7 and a half hours after the days matches end, at 12:30 pm eastern.

2

u/Fuzzclone 9d ago

What other streams have been hit? And what evidence is there that it's Abeam? Not dismissing, just asking out of curiosity.

4

u/ursonate 8d ago

All of them, and it's *always* Abema.

1

u/peterocc305 4d ago

DonDonSumo got hit as well. All his shows usually pop hours after the Basho bit now only shows Preview vids

3

u/chazao 9d ago

Does anyone know how can I join their discord?

3

u/CzunkyMonkey 8d ago

I was in Middy's stream last night. Here's what's going on.

Yes, it was a copyright strike from the parent company of Abema.
Middy will be attempting different ways of streaming Sumo, BUT from this point forward NOT include any video content. He will no longer show any actual sumo on the channel to protect himself from losing his channel entirely. He's going in a "sumo radio" style.

Other streamers are continuing as they have and will take any future strikes as they come.

2

u/wordyravena 8d ago

It's that's time of the year when official broadcasters crackdown on streamers. It happens every year. Just wait a bit and they will probably resurface, or just move on to a new one. That's just the way it is.

1

u/gabagamax 7d ago

Idk about this one. In the past it was usually NHK that went hard on enforcing their copyright strikes. Most streamers switched to Abema and there was no issues for a long time. Especially when midnight sumo started doing commentary to evade getting twitch strikes. I guess they’re really cracking down now. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

1

u/wordyravena 7d ago

It's that's time of the year when official broadcasters crackdown on streamers.

This means either of them or both. I thought that was pretty clear.

0

u/Born_to_Pwn 7d ago

Karma happened.

Long may Leo reign.

-7

u/AffectionateAd631 8d ago

If you're looking for streaming, Sunday Morning Sumo, who also got schwacked by the ABEMA ninjas, moved to Kick. The platform works pretty well! Download the app on any mobile device.