An international coalition has shut down an illegal IPTV streaming network offering more than 40,000 video channels and VoD content.
The pirate network also included 50 pirate servers located in various countries in Europe. All were shut down as part of the operation.
The coalition included the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), the Spanish Football League (LaLiga), NAGRA and Nordic Content Protection, and worked in conjunction with Spanish police.
The network was based in Spain but operated worldwide – including numerous European countries, the UK, Canada and the United States and is believed to have been generating profits in excess of €15 million. Its IPTV service was offered to resellers allowing them to create their own brand and illegal service as a franchise.
Arrests have been made across Europe, those involved have been charged with crimes against intellectual property, communications fraud, money laundering and criminal organisation.
“We are grateful to the Spanish National Police and all involved in this operation for working together to protect and defend content owner rights,” said Melcior Soler, audiovisual sirector at LaLiga. “Piracy is a global problem and it’s critical for the industry as whole to come together to fight it, share knowledge and leverage key partnerships and anti-piracy technologies to preserve high-quality content for our fans – whether it’s in sports or other types of entertainment. Together we can make a difference and alter the piracy landscape.”
“The DFL welcomes this transnational anti-piracy operation that comes at the same time major European championships resume their activities. Tackling large pirate operations at the source is a key component in the fight against large-scale content theft,” added Dr. Holger Blask, director audiovisual rights at DFL. “We are glad the industry is more and more united against piracy, in this case both the sports and the content industries joined efforts to make it happen”.
