IPTV illegal has already won over 650,000 Belgian households… at least
But the Netflix & Co are not the only levers in Cord-Cutting. IPTV illegal plays a hell of a role. The SPF Economy has made the accounts: it captures at least 658,000 Belgian households, or 12 % of the population.
The principle, as a reminder: a small case (or not even, just a subscription connected to the app of a smart TV) which opens the door to thousands of live or replay channels and a vod catalog without competition (an example: season 2 of Wednesday, Netflix event series, is, already available on iptv illegal platforms). Price ? Count 100 € for the case, between 50 and 150 € per year for subscription. Unbeatable. But beware: the approach is completely illicit, in addition to threatening the entire ecosystem for the production of audiovisual content.
IPTV: RTBF and RTL Belgium go to war against hacking
In economic law, even for the small user of the bottom of the chain, the planned sanction is extremely strong: “The sanctions are climbing up to € 800,000 fine and five years in prison”recalls Étienne Mignolet, spokesperson for the SPF Economy. Who achieved an estimate of the shortfall caused by the IPTV for the various economic players in Belgium (content aggregators, copyright management companies, televisionrs, etc.) “The financial damage increases to 189 million euros per year.”
IPTV illicit: “It’s madness, I install every day …”
This year, federal police have already closed a few shops that claimed IPTV boxes with subscription. If the “small” consumer risks, on paper, just as large, in practice, we are not aware of the slightest Belgian conviction of a user. Forces are more deployed on hunting off the supply (resellers) than on demand (users).
A worn television offer?
Finally, a third track, more difficult to measure, explaining the increase in disenchantment towards linear TV: the offer. Which has not necessarily renewed itself, as our readers point to the DH DEPLOI of the DH. And summer sports news will be able to confirm: last night, Anderlecht faced the Tiraspol Sheriff in the context of an official European competition. Zero diffuser. As for the Belgian championship, it is currently only visible on the Dazn paid app …
Linear TV, condemned?
From there to say that linear television is condemned? “”I don’t believeretorts the ULB professor, Louis Wiart. In 2021, 37 % of Belgians only watched TV, and 21 % consumed only from SVOD. Which means that the majority of the population is still … both. In addition, these are not two worlds which are as opposed as front as before, but sometimes tend to be confused. The platforms are increasingly direct, cut their seasons and, therefore, make traditional TV. Historical channels also make binge-watching on their SVOD platforms and arrive on Netflix or Video Prime, like TF1 and France 2 in France … In short: it moves “
Finally precious reminder: “Let us not forget, above all, that in our population which faces aging, the seniors are not very present on the platforms, and at 90 % consumers of linear TV, via the decoder. So condemned, TV? No. But threatened in the medium term, perhaps …”
“The real problem: the culture of free”
For Ingrid Poncin, a professor at the Uclouvain’s Louvain School of Management (specialist in consumer behavior, including in terms of new technologies), the district of classic digital television is as much the consequence of a digital world that changes as a biased relationship with the free. “For the younger generations, the question is understood: for them, we do not pay for television. Internet has infused automation, the culture of gratuitousness. It is obviously a erroneous bias, since when it is free, it is you, or rather your data, which is the product. The youngest have generally accepted this situation. For them, the content must be free, even if it is of less good quality. Of better quality than the free equivalents circulating, the latter are enough in a significant part of the population. “
This complicates the economic horizon of information sites … but also streaming platforms, such as Netflix. “It should be remembered that these very numerous and fierce competitions, although powerful, are not profitable …”
In the midst of all this, the iptv illicit continues to convince. “This is perhaps another consequence of freely perceived free as a new normality. It induces that it is normal, acceptable, to pay very little to have all the content of the world available. Even if it is illegal …”
