At the end of last year, Benjamin Morel, managing director of LFP Media, a commercial subsidiary of the Professional Football League, made a resounding revelation. It turns out that 37% of the people who have followed the Ligue 1 championship since the start of the season have done so illegally. This figure can even explode during certain major posters, such as PSG-OM.
The Swedish example
And France is far from an isolated case on this file. The latest example is thus provided to us by Sweden, the Pays de Pirate Bay, where the consulting firm Mediavision has just published a new overwhelming study.
In detail, the consumption of IPTV Pirate increased by 25 % between spring and fall 2024. In this country of 11 million inhabitants, 700,000 households (out of 4.4 million) are subscribed to one of these illegal offers. “This is a new record and a significant increase compared to spring 2024”concludes Mediavision.
Summoned to act, the Swedish government has expressed itself through the Minister of Culture, Parisa Liljestrand: “The investigator Eva Bergquist will analyze whether it is necessary to prohibit individuals from receiving illegal IPTV services and, if yes, what should such a prohibition look in this case”.
As reminded Torrentfreakthe Court of Justice of the European Union has already confirmed in 2017 that the consumption of hacked content was illegal. Since then, this decision has not produced a concrete effect.
Repression is doomed to failure
As a reminder, other European countries have already decided to attack customers of these illegal offers. Last year, Massimiliano Capitanio, the director of AGCOM, the Italian authority for regulating transalpine telecommunications, thus warned:
Perhaps it is not yet clear that fines of 150 to 5,000 euros will soon arrive, and that, like all fines, is a step that we would like to avoid, but which has become necessary, especially because Those who do illegal business make it believe that unworthy users that they risk nothing.
But these warnings only produce few effects, since IPTV explodes all over the world, while the audience of legitimate platforms is often difficult. Ultimately, the only viable solution would be to reduce the price of subscriptions to convince customers to return to legal offers, but it is often the opposite that occurs. Note, however, that Dazn recently sketched a drop in prices to try to boost its offer in France.
Questioned by ClubicRomain Quinat, marketing director of Nomios, explained last October: “You have to imagine that people are ready to pay … for IPTV. I think it just has to be cheaper. And for me, the best way to fight is that it is affordable. »» The facts have been rightly right for him since.
On your side, what do you think of the strategy implemented by the authorities to counter hacking? Tell us in the comments.
By: opera
