The legal situation of piracy in Europe has never been as confused as it is today. The controversial order from Barcelona’s Commercial Court No. 8 appears to open the door, for the first time, to fining internet users solely for using pirate streaming services, as will be the case in Italy.
Until now, the only people persecuted by the police and rights holders were people who shared pirated content; either by hosting it on pages accessible by other users, or by setting up unofficial streaming services. But, in addition to these people, the judicial order also allowed identify users of these services, including data such as name, identity and address; everything needed to present a fine for watching pirated football.
Even though it was later attempted to clarify that the target of the lawsuit was “card sharers” who share access and illegally broadcast football matches, the damage was already done; and experts agreed that while the car didn’t change anything, it opened the door to future developments that could result in fines for users.
Am I using illegal IPTV?
This has led many people to wonder if they could be fined for using the apps and streaming services they use. As we have said, for the moment the car does not change anything in the situation of these services in Europe; Another thing is what will happen in the future and the possible demands that organizations like LaLiga present supported by this order.
Therefore, the first thing we need to be clear about is whether we are doing something for which we could be fined if things change; and in many cases the answer is yes. Many Spaniards continue to watch football and other content in a “pirate” way.that is, with unofficial services that have not received authorization from LaLiga or the corresponding rights holder.
Card sharing device confiscated by national police
Whether it’s “map sharing”, private IPTV lists, or unofficial streaming pages, it’s all piracy and can be prosecuted; and therefore, users of these services may be in danger in the near future.
In the case of football, knowing if we are using a pirate service is simple: If we watch it for free, it’s probably pirated. Currently, LaLiga is not broadcast free-to-air in Europe, with the sole exception of Gol Play, Mediapro’s free channel which can broadcast one first division match and two second division matches each day, with certain limitations. The rest of the services with the right to broadcast La Liga football in Europe are paid and use closed platforms; this includes DAZN and Movistar+.
But does this mean that every time we use IPTV it is illegal and we can be fined? No, because there are legal IPTVs. In fact, a good portion of them are.
What are legal IPTVs?
Legal IPTV is very simple: they are broadcasts of public and free content which are carried out via the Internet. Unlike private broadcasts, which require identification and a paid user to access the content, these types of broadcasts are public and anyone can view them without any type of control.
Many of these legal broadcasts are carried out by public television, whose content is freely accessible because it is financed by citizens’ taxes. In other cases, these are private channels which have decided to publish their content as part of their commercial strategy. And finally, there are public institutions, such as the Congress of Deputies, which use this technology to broadcast sessions and associated content.
Many legal IPTVs broadcast sporting events, such as handball
Free Android
Finding all these legal channels can be difficult; Fortunately, there are communities that collect this content. The best known is IPTV-org, a page which brings together IPTV lists of channels broadcasting for free on the Internet. Watching free and legal IPTV on your mobile and other devices is very easy thanks to these types of communities.
With the football rights situation in Europe, it is unlikely that we will find a match on legal IPTV; at least from La Liga, since other competitions like the Copa de la Reina are accessible via IPTV on public channels, for example. In addition, these channels offer a lot of interesting content, including content from many sports competitions.
