A clash between Real Madrid-Manchester City. OL oppose Juventus Turin. Or the interesting Naples-Barça and Chelsea-Bayern. This week's program for the knockout stages of the Champions League is enticing. But as for years, hundreds of thousands of French people will follow these matches illegally. And in the field, the practice that has exploded for three years has a name feared by broadcasters: IPTV.
How it works ?
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) makes it possible, to put it simply, to watch television, to benefit from programs in video on demand or more simply to benefit from the Web. All this thanks to a box, very easily findable in commerce or online, which you can connect to your TV.
So much for the legal part. Because many of its users "divert" technology to subscribe to illegally supplied bouquets of sports channels. "People sell access online, it's very easy to subscribe," says Arnaud, a 26-year-old Parisian who works in marketing. In a few minutes, you have RMC Sport, BeIN, Canal… everything you need to watch sports. "
With a box, the price of which is around 30 euros, and an annual subscription between 20 and 50 euros, difficult for the legal offer to "compete". For comparison, the Altice group, current holder of the rights of the Champions League via RMC Sport, offers a formula at 19 euros per month.
Who is using it ?
"It is estimated that between 2.5 and 3 million French people resort to this illegal practice," emphasizes the secretary general of the High Authority for the dissemination of works and the protection of rights on the Internet (Hadopi), Pauline Blassel. This represents approximately 5% of Internet users, but it is the type of hacking that is growing the most. "
According to the Hadopi survey, carried out in May 2019, the users are more than two thirds aged between 25 and 49 years old and converted to practice during the 2018 World Cup and the arrival at the back in the same year, from the Champions League and the Europa League on RMC Sport.
"The accumulation of all subscriptions has a cost," says Tania, a 25-year-old consultant from Yvelines, who has been converting to IPTV for two seasons. "I'm a student, I can't afford to pay all the subscriptions to watch football," says Sabri. "Some people think that if they pay, it makes it more legal," says Pauline Blassel. Which is wrong. "
What are chains doing?
Unified in the Association for the Protection of Sports Programs, broadcasters are multiplying procedures to try to dismantle the networks. In June, two IPTV hackers were tried for the first time in the Nanterre court after a complaint by Altice. In September, Italian police arrested 23 people to dismantle a platform, dubbed Xtream Codes, which is believed to be the largest in the world.
"But since then, other pirates have relaunched it, sighs the legal director of BeIN Sports, Caroline Guenneteau. The IPTV is structured, with people who come together to share the costs of the servers to offer very good quality broadcasts, in 4k in particular. These are not small links that bring the viewer to blurry images. Procedures are launched, but they are long and complicated. Legal action makes sense, but it takes time. And a match only lasts 90 minutes… ”
What the law says ?
Today, offenders face two years in prison and a 30,000 euro fine. "In principle, we do not want to touch these sanctions, said the deputy (LREM) of the Alpes-Maritimes and co-chairman of the study group on the economics of sport in the Assembly, Cédric Roussel. The idea is rather to find a way to dry up this system by suspending broadcasts. "
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The audiovisual bill, which will go to committee from Monday, must take into account this form of piracy. "The rights holders will be able to seize the judge of summary proceedings, launches the elected official. Internet service providers may then be required to cut broadcast channels in France, even if the platforms are installed abroad. The broadcasters are just waiting for that.
