LaLiga has been studying for months how to stop piracy of its live matches through IPTV and AceStream and will begin to pursue people who carry out a practice known as cardsharing. Criminals who use IPTV lists capture the signal of the broadcasts using decoders and then profit from them.
The Commercial Court No. 8 of Barcelona has been in charge of handling the case and studying the measures that LaLiga must apply to end the consumption of illegal content. Teleoperators will now have the obligation to provide the IP address of the cardsharers, the name and surname of the owner who contracted the service, the postal address and the ID.
The companies that will be obliged to provide the information are Orange, Vodafone, Telefónica, Digi and MásMóvil. The National Professional Football League chaired by Javier Tebas will be the body in charge of making the necessary claims due to a breach of the audiovisual rights of its contents.
Notifications will begin to reach the homes of users who have hacked football matches. The amount of the fines and whether some cardsharers will be able to avoid paying them is still unknown. LaLiga has stood firm and will pursue those who use illegal devices to watch football unless they can prove that there is no profit motive.
LaLiga does not agree and wants to fine the end user
The judge’s order condemns the use of decoders to distribute matches illegally on pirated websites and applications.
The National Professional Soccer League wants to go one step further and has requested the data of end users, those who access pirate platforms.
The court’s resolution does not speak of users who enjoy the content without paying, despite LaLiga’s demands to know the data of said people. Although Javier Tebas has published in X a statement made by the LaLiga employers’ association, sowing some doubts.
“LaLiga will provide the operators with the IP addresses that transmit illegal content and they will inform LaLiga of the users who access said IPs”, Tebas has expressed in response to the commotion with the ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia. The reality is that the organization will not be able to take action with the end users.
LaLiga intends to break the entire chain of illegal match piracy, although it will be difficult to sanction the people who consume the content. The Tebas organization would have to demonstrate that they have a profit motive with it, something quite complex.
Who will receive LaLiga fines? People who practice cardsharing will be affected by this change in audiovisual policy.
These individuals directly or indirectly distribute content that is protected by audiovisual rights, so they are committing a crime. End users “they only defraud the quota”, The Judiciary has assured.
Can you watch live football matches for free?
LaLiga has stood up to IPTV and has created a new free football channel known as LaLiga Inside, although live matches will be left out. This space will collect unpublished documentaries and reports from clubs or the institution, as well as the best moments from the matches of the first and second division of Spanish football.
The channel will be FAST type: free, broadcast in streaming and financed by advertising. The new station is the second FAST channel of the Spanish competition after LaLiga+ and can be tuned into services such as xiaomi TV+, LG Channels and Tivify.