Spain: Landmark ruling against TV piracy
January 20, 2026
From David Del Valle in Madrid
In a ruling – described as a turning point for the audiovisual industry – the Málaga Provincial Court ordered the definitive closure of the websites servicio-iptv, servicioiptvccam and servicioiptvpremium for serious breaches of Spain’s Intellectual Property Law. The portals were used to market unauthorised access to pay-TV services.
The judgment is particularly severe in that it entails mandatory prison terms, with no option to avoid custody even for defendants with no previous criminal record — a mitigating factor that had been accepted in similar cases in the past. The decision was issued as a plea agreement after the defendants admitted the facts and accepted the prosecution’s proposed sentence, ruling out any possibility of appeal and slightly reducing the overall penalty.
According to the investigation, the criminal network offered access lists to more than 8,000 national and international TV channels through its various platforms. The operation, which lasted several months, was carried out by Spain’s National Police and ultimately led to the dismantling of an organised group dedicated to the illegal commercialisation of pay-TV signals.
Among the pirated content were the 64 exclusive channels of Movistar+, whose owner Telefónica spearheaded the legal action. The case was later joined by ADIVAN, an association representing major entertainment and streaming companies including Sony Pictures Entertainment Iberia, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Spain and The Walt Disney Company.
In addition to custodial sentences, the court imposed financial fines, upheld the blocking of the illegal websites and established civil liability in favour of Telefónica, provisionally set at €80,000. In its reasoning, the court highlighted the economic impact of the damage caused and the particular seriousness of the offences, given the scale of unauthorised content exploitation.
The ruling also details the business model behind the illegal services, which offered fraudulent connections at reseller rates of €10 per month, €35 for six months or €50 for a full year, all providing access to thousands of channels. These factors were treated as aggravating circumstances, reflecting both significant financial gain and a repeated, deliberate infringement of intellectual property rights.
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