For years those who used IPTV services and sold them did so without any real fear of legal action. The few IPTV services that faced any trouble in the US mostly faced civil lawsuits. Overseas the news was different as a growing number of IPTV sellers face jail time. That all changed back in 2020 as the US passed
Now in the US, IPTV sellers could now be facing jail time as California begins enforcing Penal Code 593(d), according to a report from TorrentFreak.
So what are IPTV services? In short, an IPTV service is an illegal live TV streaming service promising to give you all the big networks like ESPN but for a fraction of the cost of legal services.
Since that law past back in 2020, multiple IPTV services have been targeted for legal action, both civil and criminal.
This is a massive shift from what used to be a hands-off approach by police. One of the first bit ones was when FBI went after the streaming service iStreamitAll. Later they went after the Gears Reloaded service was raided and shut down. Piracy is now being viewed as a criminal issue.
Recently both the Nitro IPTV service and USTV GO have both been shut down and in the case of Nitro, the owners are facing a $100 million judgment against them.
USTV GO for a long time claimed to be a legitimate service but now it is gone, and rumors are flying that a joint effort of content owners led by DIRECTV, Discovery, HBO, Sky, and more may have been behind USTV GO shutting down, according to a report from TorrentFreak.
Just this week the antipiracy group ACE led by DISH, took down multiple sites focusing on Spanish content.
As cord cutting has put pressure on cable TV companies and content owners, they have invested heavily in efforts to stop even small piracy services. What was once a side project for many companies is now a major focus.
Look for 2023 to be a year full of crackdowns on all kinds of illegal streaming services, including IPTV services.