A British man was sentenced last week to more than six years in prison after being convicted of running a large-scale pirate television service.
Milan Ibrahim, 68, of Lancashire was found guilt of conspiracy to defraud rights holders through the operation of his illegal streaming service, according to local police.
Ibrahim supplied illegal IPTV services to customers in the U.K. and overseas, with a particular focus on British expatriates living outside the country. Authorities said he unlawfully captured and redistributed television broadcasts from major rights holders, including the BBC, ITV, Sky, the Premier League and the Motion Pictures Association.
The content was converted into formats suitable for streaming and sold as subscriptions to customers around the world. Investigators said the business operated for three years from premises in Chorley using 80 servers. All 80 servers were seized and shut down during enforcement activity.
“Illegal IPTV is not a victimless crime,” Detective Inspector Emma Warbey of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) said in a statement. “The financial harm caused by these services impacts the entire creative industry.”
Warbey said PIPCU will continue working with industry partners and law enforcement agencies in the U.K. and internationally to identify and prosecute people involved in illegal IPTV services.
FACT, which referred the service to PIPCU, said the sentence showed the consequences of selling unlawful access to premium television content.
“This outcome sends a clear message: running an illegal streaming service is a criminal offense with serious consequences,” Nick Sumner, the Investigations Manager at FACT, said last week.
The BBC, Sky Group and Premier League each released their own statements hailing the sentence as necessary to deter future copyright infringement and noted the significant resources needed to bring down content pirates.
“This conviction sends a clear message that such activity has real consequences,” Diane Hamer, the Head of Business and Legal Affairs for IP Protection at BBC Studios, said last week.
