French Football Battles Persistent Piracy as Illegal Streaming Services Flourish

Despite the many blocking operations carried out by the French and European authorities, including ARCOM, the scourge of piracy and illegal IPTV persists. "In addition to numerous channels dedicated to Ligue 1 on Telegram, the platform also sees more than 37% of French viewers turn to IPTV services." The IP addresses of many IPTV services and several Telegram channels have been blocked, but the servers continue to run, often from abroad, with Morocco and the Middle East in the lead, according to some observers. Yet the user of the illegal streaming service is exposed to a fine of 300,000 euros and 3 years in prison.

The best solution to put an end to the piracy of Ligue 1 matches is to cut the problem at the source. But the public authorities do not have the means. It is difficult to close a server located outside its area of operations, due to lack of international agreements or cooperation on these issues. The consumer would then use all the workaround tools: VPN, IPTV boxes, new IP addresses..., which makes the task difficult for the authorities.

While waiting to succeed in the fight, DAZN is trying to convince new users through various promotional offers, as IPTV services are known for their very attractive offers.