Zattoo: Is account sharing allowed on the TV service?

1. Was ist Account-Sharing?

2. Reasons for account sharing: Save costs

3. Account sharing: the legal way

4. Legal situation

5. How does Netflix combat account sharing?

6. Prevent account sharing

Zattoo is one of the best-known live TV services and offers its customers three different packages. These include the paid packages “Smart”, “Premium” and “Ultimate”. If you decide to share your access to this provider with others (known as account sharing), you should pay particular attention to a few things.

Was ist Account-Sharing?

Account sharing comes from English usage and basically means sharing a customer account. The topic is repeatedly brought up and heavily discussed, especi ally in connection with streaming services. Since more and more providers are currently appearing on the market, potential customers’ curiosity about these new offers is also increasing.

Through account sharing, you give other people access to the content of a service, but only you pay for it. But why do users share their access data with each other? We’ll tell you why account sharing is so practical.

Reasons for account sharing: Save costs

The main advantage of account sharing is the cost savings. With more and more streaming services on the market, curiosity about the new content from each provider is understandably increasing. However, hardly anyone can afford access to several customer accounts at once.

For example, if you have the Zattoo Ultimate package for 13.99 dollars and also pay 8.99 dollars per month for an Amazon Prime Video Prime membership, that’s just under 23 dollars per month. Calculated over the whole year, that’s over 275 dollars, which is quite a large sum for just one person.

It is therefore not surprising that more and more people are interested in various streaming services and their content, but would prefer to share this access with their closest friends and relatives for cost reasons. If you all have very different subscriptions, you can complement each other perfectly.

Account sharing: the legal way

The streaming service Zattoo offers multiple streams that can be viewed simultaneously on different devices. The question arises as to why sharing a customer account seems so problematic? We will explain the differences to you.

Why are there parallel streams on multiple devices?

With the Zattoo Smart package you can only use one stream. On the other hand, if you switch to the other paid packages, such as the Premium package, you can watch up to two streams at the same time. With the Ultimate package you have four parallel streams at your disposal to access the big Zattoothek.

You only need one Zattoo account for all the devices you use at the same time. It doesn’t matter which device exactly it is. Be it a smart TV or a smartphone, it’s entirely up to you.

Share streaming service in a household

Sharing the service and its contents is therefore not prohibited in this case, but is possible without any problems. This works, for example, if you live in the same household as a family or shared apartment.

The decisive factor, however, is that you only use your service within this one household. The idea behind it is that families in particular watch Zattoo and don’t have to agree on just one channel when watching TV.

For example, are you a parent who wants to watch a film on your Zattoo account, but your children don’t want to? No problem. The children can watch a children’s series at the same time via Zattoo and let their parents watch TV in peace in the next room. This type of parallel streaming is clearly desirable.

What is not appreciated, however, is sharing your own account with friends and relatives who do not live in your household. This way, the streaming service loses out on potential customers and, above all, on contributions for their own subscriptions from other users. But is account sharing even legal? We will explain this to you.

Legal situation

As far as the legal situation of account sharing is concerned, there are also a few things to consider with the Zattoo streaming service. Since you agreed to follow the terms and conditions when you signed the Zattoo subscription, the consequences of a violation through account sharing also affect you.

Most streaming services are currently very accommodating on this topic and do not set any direct restrictions when it comes to sharing your accounts. However, some providers such as Netflix already point out if you are using access that is outside your home network. Then you often have to get an additional account for a fee or you are locked out for the time being.

Observe the terms of use and general terms and conditions

In the general terms and conditions, the provider Zattoo has also expressed itself very clearly and expressed clear rules against account sharing. It is written in it:

The user is not permitted to make the access data sent or used for authentication and identification accessible to third parties or to pass them on to third parties.

From section 5 under “User Obligations” of Zattoo’s Terms and Conditions.

It is always advisable to also pay attention to the terms of use and general terms and conditions of your streaming service and to take the regulations in this case into account. Even if there is currently no such restriction, this can change at any time. After taking out a subscription, you are contractually bound to adhere to exactly these regulations.

In the event of a violation, for example, you could initially receive a simple warning from your provider. This could happen if suspicious activity is detected on your customer account and different people log in from different locations.

If you continue account sharing afterwards, it could be that your account will simply be blocked by Zattoo and you will lose your access completely. In the worst case scenario, you could even face a claim for damages. Here the streaming service retrieves the contributions that it missed during this time due to your account being shared by other users.

There are no such examples yet, as it remains difficult to provide concrete evidence of account sharing. For the time being, providers are continuing to be cautious and are not checking their customers so thoroughly. However, this approach could change very quickly, especially if Netflix makes an example in the future.

How does Netflix combat account sharing?

There is always news about account sharing on the streaming service Netflix. This is probably also because Netflix is ​​struggling with the decline in its users and wants to generate new customers in this way.

Provider Netflix is ​​one of the pioneers and has already found ways to restrict account sharing. Disney+ also plans to curb access sharing in 2024. Your IP address, device IDs, account activity and home network are used to check where you are streaming from, preventing you from logging in outside of your household. If you are on long trips, it could also be difficult to access your customer account in the future.

If you have family members or friends who live far away and share your account, they will also be blocked from your streaming service. This problem can only be solved with a monthly surcharge of 4.99 dollars. With Netflix subscription prices continuing to rise, this step is a bitter blow for all customers.

Prevent account sharing

Do you now have concerns about sharing your private accounts on streaming services? You can then change your access data, especially your password, at any time. We’ll tell you how to do it.

By adjusting your access data, you can easily block people with whom you share a streaming service from your account. If you want to make sure that no one remains logged in, you can also have all of your devices logged out of your customer account.

Change password at Zattoo

To change your password, first log in to your Zattoo customer account using a web browser under “Login”. Then go to “Settings” in the menu at the bottom left. You will then see the option to “Manage my account” on the right under your account, which you can click on.

In the next step, click on “Change password” at the bottom under “Account information”. You will then be redirected.

Here you first enter your current password. If you don’t remember this yourself, first go to “Forgot your password?”. Then enter your new password and repeat it again in the bottom line. Finally, press “Save” to complete the change.

However, you can only change your password via the web browser. There is still no way to access and adjust your account settings via the mobile apps and the apps on your smart TV.

You have now reset your Zattoo access data and are protected against unwanted account sharing. If you have any further questions, you can contact Zattoo customer service at any time contact form writes to.

Account sharing therefore remains an existing issue that customers of streaming services will continue to have to deal with. So if you want to be on the safe side, you can completely prevent sharing your customer account with people outside your household in the future.

If you still don’t want to do without it, for example for cost reasons, you should always be aware of the possible consequences. Even if the measures have not yet been enforced by the respective services, this could still change in the future.

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