Major Crackdown on Pirate IPTV Network During Euro 2024

Tuesday 25 June 2024 - 16:00

An extensive operation has been carried out in Italy.

In the midst of Euro 2024, approximately 1.3 million Italians who had access to an illegal IPTV service found their streams abruptly cut off, according to a statement from the Guardia di Finanza (GdF), a law enforcement agency under Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance.

A Shock Amidst the Football Championship

The authorities highlighted their successful operation in a statement: “The soldiers of the provincial command of the Guardia di Finanza in Milan, coordinated by the local prosecutor's office, conducted a significant investigation to combat the phenomenon of audiovisual piracy, known as IPTV.”

They further detailed that the operations involved 14 “local and computer” searches across various regions in the country and abroad, targeting 13 suspects. The GdF accuses these individuals of “managing illegal distribution networks of major TV schedules protected by copyright, decrypting, and illegally redistributing content from the world’s leading television providers via unauthorized IPTV platforms, thereby causing significant economic damage to legitimate broadcasters.”

According to estimates from the specialized site TorrentFreak, if the figure of 1.3 million affected users is accurate, it would imply that nearly half of the country’s IPTV users have been impacted.

However, TorrentFreak expresses skepticism regarding this figure, particularly since there has not been a substantial online reaction. Furthermore, Google searches related to IPTV have not surged significantly, which is surprising in a country where football is almost a religion. If confirmed, more information is expected to emerge in the coming days.

UEFA's Intensified Anti-Piracy Efforts

Regardless, the crackdown on piracy is intensifying globally. As previously reported, UEFA has implemented systems to detect and block pirate streams within minutes.

UEFA is also being highly proactive with search engines like Google. Thousands of links to pirate sites have already been delisted. For more details, you can revisit our dedicated article here.

Key Takeaways:

- Italian police claim to have conducted a major raid against an IPTV network.
- Around 1.3 million subscribers reportedly lost their signal overnight during the football championship.
- The crackdown on illegal platforms is ramping up worldwide.