IPTV is enjoying some success in France, especially among people who have the means to legally purchase the services they pirate.
The service offering television channels directly to a computer via the Internet, IPTV, is not necessarily illegal. It becomes so when providers misuse this technology in order to offer channels of which they are not the official broadcasters, for a moderately priced subscription. And, despite the efforts of the authorities, this way of hacking is becoming more and more popular, especially among those who have no economic problems in their lives!
Pirates, upper middle class men
When we think of the public who are fans of IPTV, we tend to have in mind young high school students or students who do not have the money to be able to pay for streaming services like RMC Sport. An image which is however very false, according to the deputy general director of ARCOM Pauline Combredet-Blassel.
In an interview given to the newspaper The Dispatchshe explains that “ users are mainly men aged 30 to 35 in a higher socio-professional category and living in the Paris region. » In short, she summarizes, the “ CSP+ “.
A practice on the rise
And if we are to believe his words, the popularity of illegal IPTV has increased in recent years with the installation of piracy systems becoming increasingly simple. According to figures from the ARCOM barometer, 5% of the country’s Internet users would use these solutions, against which the regulatory authority would find it more difficult to fight.
Currently, piracy represents a cost of 1 billion euros per year for professionals in the affected sectors. IPTV alone accounts for 20% of this shortfall. ARCOM points out that it continues to fight against pirates, and that it has already succeeded in bringing down around a hundred domain names used to sell these services.
Source : The Dispatch
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