➤ Is IPTV Illegal? 🎮

The first question that arises for anyone planning to subscribe to IPTV could be "But is IPTV illegal?". Before answering the question “Is IPTV legal?”, Let me explain why there is a craze for IPTV around the world.

On average, a Spanish citizen spends around € 35 per month on a cable subscription, for a limited number of channels. With the introduction of IPTV services, a user can have more than 4000 channels available for almost € 8-10 per month.

It's no secret how we watch television today is very different from the way we watched television 10 or 20 years ago. More and more people are "cutting the wire" in search of cheaper alternatives and there are all a number of online companies that sell IPTV subscription-type services.

In this article we will take a closer look at what exactly IPTV means, and answer the question, Is IPTV Illegal?

What is IPTV?

IPTV stands for Internet Protocol TV, which is a competing way of broadcasting television to consumers versus more terrestrial methods such as OTA, cable, or satellite. IPTV can embody many things there are certainly legitimate IPTV services available on the market today.

For example, IPTV streaming services from Netflix, HULU, VUDU and the like offer television broadcasts based on Internet protocols and are perfectly legal as an alternative to traditional cable and satellite subscriptions.

What is IPTV?

Pirates with IPTV subscription

Is IPTV Illegal? Make no mistake, IPTV subscriptions offering massively discounted prices for thousands of HD and premium channels are not legal. This is a growing black market that remains elusive to the authorities and is growing in popularity.

In fact, a recent study showed that 6,5% of Spanish households have subscribed to or have access to pirated IPTV content. These are staggering numbers when you think about it. And the numbers are even bigger globally.

What exactly do IPTV services sell?

A quick Google search will quickly show you the plethora of IPTV subscription services available. I did a quick search and here's an example of what they offer.

The 1 year subscription for € 100 gives you over 3000 channels.

Sounds too good to be true right? Well, why is it! And it's definitely illegal. What these IPTV pirates are doing is setting up offshore servers (even onshore in some cases) that gather the TV signal and then relay the digital feeds back to you via a TV or your PC. In all cases these services are illegal and users should be careful.

Is IPTV Illegal? Yes, no… maybe yes!

Well, I hope I've said enough to stop you from using these black-market type IPTV subscription sites. At the very least, I hope I answered the original question, if IPTV subscriptions are illegal, the short answer is it depends.

It is clearly proven that using IPTV to watch copyrighted content through licensed sources is legal. It is the free online streaming of licensed content that often leads to difficult situations.

As a user, it is unlikely that you will receive any penalties or punishments for streaming the licensed content, even if it is not difficult. However, those who distribute, sell or promote pirated content or tools to offer access to such content are in clear violation of the law and are subject to heavy penalties and criminal convictions.

Piracy, blitz against the pezzotto: Xtraem Code obscured. Gdf: "Subscribers risk jail"

If I can't discourage you from illegal IPTV sites, and believe me, I'm not judging anyone, I hope I've made you sufficiently aware of the risks and given you some helpful tips to protect you.