Tennis Player Daniil Medvedev Will Illegally Stream U.S. Open Because His Hotel Doesn't Have ESPN Due To Spectrum Dispute

Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev is proving he's a man of the people.

The No. 3 ranked tennis player in the world is currently gearing up for Wednesday's U.S. Open Quarterfinal matchup against Andrey Rublev (No. 8)

However, when asked after his win yesterday how he was going to prepare against his future opponents should he advance past the quarterfinals, Medvedev hilariously said that he would probably have to illegally stream the Open on his television.

The reason? His hotel doesn't currently have ESPN because of an ongoing dispute with the Spectrum cable company.

"I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S LEGAL..."

Speaking with reporters, Medvedev was completely honest with his response.

"I guess in a lot of hotels they have Spectrum, so I can't watch the U.S. Open on TV anymore... I don't know if it's legal or illegal but I have to find a way because I cannot watch it on TV... so I have Internet and what do you call it - a pirate website or something? So I have no other way, so I have to find something..."

Uh oh, nobody show this clip to Marc "Narc" Cuban.

NETWORKS HAVE TO FIGURE STREAMING OUT

Although Medvedev was joking (yeah right), the issue of illegal streaming has become a major concern for broadcast networks that are losing money.

This past week, the UFC, NBA and NFL all sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Patent and TradeMark Office to change 1998's Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) over claims it's antiquated and doesn't work fast enough to shut down streamers.

There can also be big fines for those that host pirated streams, and even viewers themselves (so watch out Daniil!). Sports leagues have claimed they've lost over $25 BILLION in annual revenue due to pirated streams, and they're not playing around.

To be fair, I don't know what the networks expect people to do if they can't watch games... or what a top-ranked tennis player is supposed to do when he can't scout his opponent for a potential life-changing Majors win.

SOME GAMES NOT SHOWN ON ESPN OVER DISPUTE

Meanwhile, Spectrum sports fans are absolutely livid at not being able to watch certain games since last Thursday, when the initial blackout began. They want their sports, and they want them now.

It's unclear how this all plays out. The arguments center around how much the Charter Communications-owned Spectrum is willing to pay Disney for their product. They've reportedly been willing to pay for a Disney bundle that would include ESPN, Hulu and Disney+. However, Disney won't allow it. The network has since urged people to subscribe to Hulu+ Live TV in order to watch football until the situation is resolved.

With the streaming wars upon us and sports broadcast rights becoming a very big deal as the media industry tries to transition into this new on-demand era, the timing couldn't be worse for ESPN.