In the piracy department, films and series are no longer the only ones on board. Since the democratization of IPTV, many viewers have turned to these illegal means to watch competitions and events without having to pay the price of a subscription to encrypted platforms and channels. While these programs were once only accessible to subscribers to Canal+ and BeIN SPORTS, to name a few, they are now being sold for around thirty euros per year. According to the regulator ARCOM, these illegal uses represent a significant shortfall in... win for the industry. The 2024 results show a loss of around 290 million euros per year, or 15% of the segment's revenue.
The explosion of the offer as well as the arrival of DAZNet, its subscription deemed too expensive, have led to a crisis in Ligue 1 that worries industry players and regulatory authorities. Marie Brasacq, Minister of Sports, detailed the government's plan to combat piracy and stem the phenomenon on RMC Sports. She explains that the “situation is critical”, while calling for quick action. “Piracy today is like doping back then. We're always chasing the doped. We're one step behind those who commit these crimes”
More severity
The idea is not to focus ARCOM's attention on consumers but to tackle the problem at its root. This would involve punishing IPTV providers more harshly. The minister refers to Michel Savin's bill, which is intended to improve the organizational and financing model of professional football. The fight against piracy plays an important role in this, representing an unprecedented threat to the sector.
“First, we must, and this is the bill put forward by Senator Michel Savin and which we are discussing in an attempt to implement it quickly, classify piracy as a crime”. The Minister of Sports added: “It's truly a crime and we must be able to punish, not those who benefit from it and the end user, but rather the one who organizes the mechanism, the supplier. A bit like we do with counterfeits.”
For the time being, IPTV sellers risk the same penalties as for receiving counterfeit goods, namely up to five years in prison and €500,000 in fines for organized crimes. Customers are not exempt from sanctions and may be found complicit in a copyright violation and face the same penalties as their suppliers. They face up to three years in prison and a fine of €300,000.
More manpower
Another area on which the French government wants to make progress: the resources made available to the authorities to combat this phenomenon. Marie Brasacq mentions in particular the strike force of ARCOM and the need to entrust tools to other actors to intensify the hunt for offenders. “We also need to equip stakeholders other than ARCOM, and we need to be able to grant authorization to trusted third parties who will do this work. We have three stakeholders working, whereas in England, there are thirty per weekend”. These third parties could allow ARCOM to cover more ground.
And finally, the Minister of Sports emphasizes the need to quickly communicate data collected on pirate networks to the competent authorities to enable the most effective action possible. “We want to speed up these procedures”. It remains to It is now time to see when the bill proposed by Michel Savin, Senator of the Republicans, will be tabled and in what form.
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