The Senate is examining a new bill aimed at responding more effectively to the explosion of pirate IPTV platforms. With the key heavy fines and prison sentences.
Arcom could soon have new deterrent tools to fight against those responsible but also those who promote pirate IPTV platforms. A law text, presented by Senators Michel Savin (LR) and Laurent Lafon (Union Centriste) proposes to create a new “crime of piracy in the sports field”.
A new tool which will allow, if the test is adopted without too many modifications, to heavily sanction those responsible for pirate IPTV sites. But also all the actors who promote them. The owners of these pirate sites could indeed become liable to a fine of up to 300,000 euros – all accompanied by a prison sentence of up to three years.
Arcom could issue very heavy sanctions against pirate IPTV sites
In the event of repeated offenses by an organized gang, the sanctions could be increased to 750,000 euros in penalties and 7 years of imprisonment. For advertising agencies, influencers, and other actors promoting these illegal services, the penalties could rise to 15,000 euros in fines and 1 year in prison. In addition, Arcom could also be given the power to block illegal IPTV sites broadcasting paid sports channels.
This power could be applied immediately or preventively, before a match likely to attract a large audience. Subject to obtaining a court order. Surprisingly, this law specifically aims to apply sanctions to sites that offer sports channels, such as BeIN Sport and DAZN. It must be said that sports channels are particularly affected by the concealment of their broadcasts by pirate sites.
An Arcom survey carried out in 2023 reveals that pirate IPTV sites capture 12% of the market in France. This represented a loss of 1.5 billion euros this year, including a loss of 290 million euros for sports broadcasters alone – which then had an impact of 130 million euros for professional football clubs.
It remains to be seen whether the blocking measures will have an effect. Arcom must indeed deal with two major technical problems. The first is that blocking decisions remain fairly easy to circumvent, whether by using a VPN connection, or even, more simply, by modifying DNS servers. Furthermore, illegal sites tend to adapt very quickly, notably by launching mirror sites.
As a result, the authorities are currently trying to force DNS and VPN services to also apply, at their level, the blocking of pirate sites. But the game is far from won: the latter generally refuse to have what they consider to be censorship imposed on them. Some VPN services are even threatening to leave France to avoid being forced to apply the blocks.
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