ANOTHER streaming network used by over eight million people to illegally stream football matches has been dismantled.
The sites were used in dodgy TV boxes to show premium matches including LaLiga games.
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It comes amid a huge crackdown on illegal streaming, after a huge operation accessed 1.6billion times last year to watch the Premier League was closed down.
This latest sting was carried out in Argentina though the sites were used by viewers globally.
Authorities say it’s the “most significant strike against audiovisual fraud in Latin American history”.
Raids were carried out in four “sophisticated” office buildings around Buenos Aires by local police suspected of being the nerve centre for organised criminals.
Read more on illegal streaming
The list of services disrupted as a result of the crackdown include:
- My Family Cinema
- TV Express
- Eppi Cinema
- Weiv TV
- Red Play
- Duna TV
- Boto TV
- Break TV
- VTV, Blue TV
- Super TV Premium
- HOT, ONpix
- PLUSTV, Mix
- Venga TV
- ALA TV
- Pulse TV
- Football Zone
- Nossa TV
- MegaTV+
- Cineduo
- Megamax+
- GTV
- Nebuplus
- Onda TV
“This operation marks a before and after in the fight against digital piracy in Latin America,” said said Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga.
“The scale of this network demonstrates that audiovisual fraud is a transnational organized crime issue.
“From LaLiga, we will continue working alongside authorities, ALIANZA, and our partners to protect the industry, the clubs, and, above all, the fans.”
There have been a number of raids, arrests and jail-time for operators in recent years.
A Brit who enjoyed a lavish lifestyle running three illegal streaming sites was jailed for more than three years in July.
Stephen Woodward, 36, splashed out on designer clothes and jewellery, expensive holidays and a Jaguar F-Type V8 coupe worth £91,000 from his ill-gotten gains.
The three sites he ran included IPTV Hosting, Helix Hosting and Black and White TV, which have all since been closed down.
Warning over ‘jailbroken’ Fire Sticks
Illegal streaming can be delivered by a number of devices by one of the most common are ‘jailbroken’ Fire Sticks, which means a third-party media server software has been installed on to it.
The software most commonly used is called Kodi.
It can grant users unrestricted access to new features and apps the normal version of the device wouldn’t allow – but it is not legal to use in the UK.
But it becomes illegal when a box is used to stream subscription channels for free.
It is also illegal to buy or sell these modified devices which have become known as “fully-loaded” – a term that describes how the software has been altered to allow access to subscription-only channels.
“These devices are legal when used to watch legitimate, free to air, content,” the government said at the time.
“They become illegal once they are adapted to stream illicit content, for example TV programmes, films and subscription sports channels without paying the appropriate subscriptions.”
Image credit: Getty / The Sun
