Football fans using IPTV streaming services to watch premium content can now be tracked and prosecuted via 4 different methods following a historic court ruling in Spain.
IPTV, or Internet Protocol Television, is a method that many sports fans have turned to in order to save money watching their favourite competitions.
As the cost of watching sports and other entertainment sectors increases, with many fans having to purchase several monthly subscriptions to watch all the content they desire, it is no surprise that IPTV providers have soared in popularity.
Although using such a service is not in itself illegal, streaming premium content that would otherwise be a paid-for service is an offence.
We reported that in May 2023 an IPTV gang were jailed for streaming services illegally to their customers, and in February this year another man was charged with providing a similar service.
Sentences of 12 months+, as well as fines in excess of £90,000 were handed out on those occasions, giving users of the popular streaming services something to worry about.
Now, following a historic court ruling in Spain, viewers of IPTV service have even more to be afraid of when streaming illegal content.
A judge of Barcelona’s Commercial Court passed a ruling that would allow not just providers, but users of the streaming services to be tracked when streaming illegal content.
This new ruling means that Internet providers must pass over details of users who are streaming La Liga matches for free to the league, with the ruling statement reading as follows:
“There are reasonable indications that content, works or services subject to the audiovisual rights of La Liga are being made available or disseminated directly or indirectly without respecting the provisions of the Intellectual Property Law.”
This new law will allow prosecutors to track users of IPTV services via 4 different methods:
- Name & Surname of the holder of the internet services contract at the property.
- The IP address of the user streaming illegal content.
- Postal address and billing details of Internet service holder.
- Identification document (NIE, NIF etc) containing info on the IP address of the server connected, the port server which is connected, and the time of the server request.
Javier Tebas, La Liga’s President said that illegal streamers who are caught via this new court order will be given ‘damages’ to pay on account of the content being illegal to watch for free.
If this game-changing ruling works in La Liga’s favour, and streamers of illegal football content are caught successfully, we may well see something similar brought into UK law.
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