Paris (AFP)

Football galore, emissions from all continents without restriction ... Nearly a quarter of French netizens watch live TV programs via illegal services according to a study by Hadopi, enough to give cold sweat to the channels Pay.

As part of its missions, which include studying the evolution of piracy technologies and consumer uses, to better fight against illegal practices, the High Authority has conducted a thorough study with Ifop on the extent of France's IPTV (Internet Protocol TeleVision) and livestreaming. These two increasingly popular techniques make it possible to view live TV illegally.

Through individual and group interviews, and a survey conducted from 27 November to 3 January with a representative sample of 1,000 Internet users, supplemented by an oversample of 800 illicit consumers (to refine the results), this study helped to establish that 24% of Internet users use a malicious way to watch live TV.

Within this phenomenon, three major practices coexist.

The most used (17% of Internet users use it) is the "livestreaming", especially popular with football fans. This amounts to consulting a free site paid for by advertising, which broadcasts a live sporting event, by pirating the images of an official broadcaster.

This practice is therefore punctual and focused on finding specific content, such as a Champions League match. It seems to have been favored in France by the bursting of the rights of major sports competitions between several major broadcasters (BeIN, Canal +, SFR / RMC Sport ...).

In addition, 14% of Internet users watch live content on social networks, illegally shared by other Internet users via Facebook Live, Periscope (Twitter), Youtube etc.

Finally, less practiced in France (5% of Internet users) but in strong progression, the "IPTV" is a bit like the Grail of multilingual televores: it allows to watch up to several thousand channels from all over the world, live, for a few euros a month.

- Not without risks -

To do this, simply buy a small box easily accessible on the internet or in some shops, often preconfigured, or install an application (for connected TV, smartphone, tablet ...) that allows access to these offers unlawful.

These illegal IPTV offers offer as a bonus thousands of works (series, films) on demand. And for those who are reluctant to pay, there is a free alternative, the M3U, less comprehensive services and funded through ads.

The Hadopi, created ten years ago, hopes, thanks to this type of study, to help broadcasters and rights holders of works to combat this phenomenon, while these illegal services make them lose-as the state- important revenues.

The study shows that 54% of illegal IPTV users and 45% of "livestreamers" have already unsubscribed from a legal service. For its part, BeIN Sports had estimated at 3.5 million the number of French who practice livestreaming.

If it is impossible to detect which Internet users use these technologies, unlike the peer-to-peer networks used to download works, the High Authority for the dissemination of works and the protection of rights on the Internet wants to encourage the channels and pay television operators to communicate to the public about the disadvantages and risks of these services.

And there are many, starting with the risk of exposing children to inappropriate content, because of the lack of parental control, to bribe his computer and to entrust personal data to strangers. Not to mention the fact of potentially funding mafia gangs, to whom this kind of activity can bring very big.

Finally, the Hadopi suggests putting pressure on multiple intermediaries without whom these activities would be more complicated to lead, such as payment services and application stores of Google, Apple and others.

? 2019 AFP