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Dutch police shut down pirate TV operation

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Police in the Netherlands have shut down a large-scale pirate TV operation that offered illegal access to live broadcasts and on-demand movies to more than 1.3 million customers.

Last year, Dutch officials launched an investigation into several streaming operations that went by the name “Cobra,” “4K OTT” and “My TV Plus,” which were offering illegal access to movies and TV series from Netflix and Disney Plus along with live broadcasts from Viaplay.



The operations shut down earlier this year following a raid on several homes and offices, including the residence of a 30-year-old only identified by police as Hicham O. The alleged operator was charged with copyright infringement, money laundering and being a member of a criminal organization.

Police seized more than 1,000 servers from various locations, as well as €200,000 (around U.S. $220,000).



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Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is a nationally-recognized, award-winning journalist who has covered the business of media, technology, radio and television for more than 11 years. He is the publisher of The Desk and contributes to Know Techie, Digital Content Next and StreamTV Insider. He previously worked for Thomson Reuters, the Walt Disney Company, McNaughton Newspapers and Tribune Broadcasting. Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn by clicking or tapping here.
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