Sky's merciless war against large-scale IPTV pirates: an unprecedented battle of attrition!

Sky TV obtains IPTV blocking injunction

Last summer, Sky TV obtained a somewhat mysterious pirate IPTV blocking injunction from the High Court in London. In the months leading up to November 2023, this led to UK ISPs blocking at least 400 IPTV domains/subdomains, potentially many more. The data available today suggests a perpetual war of attrition on an unprecedented scale. In the last four weeks alone, Sky has blocked almost 4,200 IPTV service URLs; the pirates' response is simple: produce more.

An unprecedented blocking measure

Details of the judge's concerns remain confidential, but given that the other major UK ISPs did not contest the proposals, the injunction was granted. After around five months of live blocking under this injunction, it seems reasonable to conclude that the volume of blocking was one of the main concerns.

Ordinary (and less ordinary) domains

While Sky has targeted many ordinary-looking domains, such as mainiptv.com, iptvmain.live, main-iptv.com, iptvmain.co.uk, geniptv.world, ky-iptv.com, mag.4k-beast.co and gotvmix.org, the vast majority are distinctly different.

Domain objectives

Investigating these domains is possible to some extent, but given that most of them operate behind Cloudflare in this case, direct methods produce limited and disproportionately time-consuming results. For anti-piracy professionals with resources, technology and funding, anything is possible with creativity and determination.

Who wins the war?

The real answer is that we simply don't know, but there are a few things to note nonetheless. Sky seems up for the challenge, and while it's impossible to say whether this has the desired effect, or indeed any effect at all, the volume is testament to Sky's determination and to an element sadly absent from other parts in recent months: accuracy.