Canal+, the exclusive rights holder of the Premier League in France, is not giving up. On January 14, 2026, the court ordered NordVPN and Surfshark to filter access from France to 16 illegal IPTV platforms, which offered to enjoy thousands of channels – including British championship matches – in HD, and at reduced prices. The judge invokes article L. 333-10 of the Sports Code, relating to the fight against the illicit broadcast of sports competitions: VPNs are technical intermediaries essential to the transmission of data. They must therefore ensure that they prevent blockages from being circumvented, under penalty of a fine and a penalty of €500 to €1,000 per day of delay.
VPNs caught in the vice
NordVPN and Surfshark protest. Blocking these domains would betray their promise of online anonymity, even though we know that even with a VPN, absolute confidentiality does not exist. The argument put forward by VPNs is above all practical: in addition to contravening their DNA, blocking would, in reality, be very ineffective. As pirate IPTVs explode, it is possible to bypass legal subscriptions for a few euros per month. A big shortfall for Canal+, but a losing battle, argue the VPNs, who assure that even by blocking the platforms concerned, it will still be very easy to circumvent official channels.
IPTV is now used by 11% of French Internet userstwo-thirds of whom have started doing so in the last three years. These all-in-one offers offer thousands of premium channels and content for a few dozen euros per year. Faced with this tidal wave, Arcom is sounding the alarm.
1.2 billion euros in losses for the audiovisual sector and 290 million euros for sport. The State is also toast with 400 million euros of tax and social revenue going up in smoke. Suffice to say that things are starting to seriously heat up in the regulator’s offices.
Arcom wants to move up a gear with a system inspired by British and Italian models. The objective is to partially automate blocking devices, particularly for live sports broadcasts. Concretely, no more need for manual verification for each link. The system would detect pirated streams and cut them instantly, during the match and not three hours after the final whistle.
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