Clampdown on TV 'Dodgy Boxes'

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122083689#Comment_122083689

Routers with hardcoded DNS that can't be changed.

Meh.

Client DNS settings over ride it.

Or a cheap AP before the router, which would probably be more robust than the router itself.

dulpit

I don't think that they will clamp down on iptv from a technical point of view. What will be the death of it is if they ever come up with a competing product, legally, at a fair price.

Look at music piracy, Spotify basically killed it because it was a good service and fair price for consumer (even if the musicians are getting screwed). Technically it's easy to pirate music, but the vast majority of people won't now.

Whether something like that ever happens in the live sports arena is another question though...

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122084285#Comment_122084285

It'll never happen. There are too many people making so much money off of live sport. If a spotify type of platform was ever introduced then footballers, golfers pundits etc would only be earning a fraction of their salaries. Unfortunately IPTV is the only solution for the average person who doesn't want to be gouged.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122084391#Comment_122084391

You can't ever rule out anything.

If the likes of Apple, Amazon or Netflix aggressively went after marquee sporting rights and priced it keenly people would certainly switch.

A spotify type deal for football at least would kill it completely, you would have the most supported teams earning the most and a massive drop off to everyone else.

No one saw LIV coming and they have absolutely fractured the sport of professional Golf and harmed it's commercial viability.

Similar would have happened with the European Super League but the fans fought back.

What the international broadcasters and streamers want is not the rights to the Premier League or Champions League, they want the exclusive broadcast rights to Man United, Real Madrid, PSG, etc.

Some of the money men at the clubs want this too.

When you are dealing with greed and vast sums of money, anything can happen in the future.

Manc-Red_

The problem with the providers is the ease of how you can sub to their premium services but when you want to leave or not use it for a month or two - you have to make a 1.5 hr call to a call centre to get it off at a 31 day later date. Absolute greed and madness.

If they changed that , then more people would subscribe and not use IPTV.

I have Sky for the family and Now TV for sports. Same company - makes no sense as I can stop my premium at any time on Now.

Henry Ford III

The providers of pay TV services are all too aware of the threat of IPTV and would be quick to move to close everything down in a hurry if they could.

The thing is they can't. IPTV is far from new and it's distributed far and wide by small and normally "quiet" outlets. If FACT or others locate one and close it there will be others ready to start up somewhere else immediately. It's simple to find and set up a new IPTV source.

Illegal TV services were around long before IPTV also. We had mag boxes, card sharing, and other methods too. As security evolves so too will the methods used by the illegal providers.

I can't see how Sky etc. will ever be able to make their content secure. The rewards for breaking their security are simply too great.

Butson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122084391#Comment_122084391

It will depend on critical mass.

At the moment there is obviously a massive amount of poeple legally paying for their sport. Probably an older demographic, not as tech savvy. If however IPTV gets so big that the legally paying customer starts to think, Hang on, I'm just being a gobshite here…..then they will have to to something.

JDxtra

If Sky or Now TV had a package that was a flat rate of €15 month for Sky Sports (and Extra) in HD on multiple devices, I think that would be an attractive price point.

I know with offers you can get close (well, closer) to this pricing on Now TV - but not everyone is aware of this. I believe the standard pricing for sports on Sky is €69 per month on top of any existing basic TV services and extras (ad skipping, UHD, multiroom). Before you know it, you could be paying €100 - €120 per month with guaranteed annual increases. Plus, your broadband, Netflix, Disney+ etc. on top of this again.

Then you have the drama of trying to cancel services with Sky - which really should be investigated by the CCPC. If you can sign up online, you should be able to cancel online.

This is what annoys people and turns them to illegal IPTV. Sky themselves are not helping the situation at all.

In saying that, IPTV is now very mainstream. There will be a tipping point where Sky and the other broadcasters will be forced to tackle it in some creative new way. I do accept it’s a difficult issue though, especially when IPTV operators are well resourced due to making so much money from it.

Macy0161

€25 a month is getting me Sky Sports and Sports Extra on Now, with Boost fwiw.

Regarding the spotify example - it'd be the Season Ticket option that would be the game changer for football (i.e. you could by MUTV/ LTV etc and get all games), but it's not going to happen whilst International Rights are still growing. But Amazon already have some Premier League matches, and getting Champions League next year. MLS on AppleTV.

Fr Tod Umptious

Firstly people need to stop blaming Sky for the price of EPL rights, it's the EPL who controls the rights, what can be shown and at what time, not Sky or BT.

And the EPL are also the ones who set the price, so that price people pay for Sky or TNT or Now TV is primarily dictated by the EPL, the clubs, not the broadcaster.

Amazon have a very limited package in the current rights deal but didn't pursue a new one for the next deal.

But there has to be some context around why they didn't pursue a package.

The EPL for the upcoming rights deal extended the duration of the deal and also reduced the amount of packages available while increasing the amount of games available.

Amazon had a very small package last time and it seems were not interested in getting a bigger, longer package this time.

So the idea that the regular streaming services are chomping at the bit to get into EPL broadcasting may not be the case.

What the EPL did with the recent rights package was keep the illegal IPTV streaming wolf from the door for another few years.

They increased the amount of games being broadcast, included all Sunday games, they made the contract a year longer and reduced the number of packages thus you now just have two broadcasters involved rather than three.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122085766#Comment_122085766

Firstly people need to stop blaming Sky for the price of EPL rights, it's the EPL who controls the rights, what can be shown and at what time, not Sky or BT.

That is a bit remedial to be fair.

The rights packages are an auction which the broadcasters bid on.

Premier League Football is one of those situations where competition has led to a detrimental effect for the viewer.

Split subs which in turn are far more expensive.

When BT aggressively entered the market 10+ years ago the broadcasting money jumped by 70+% and more than doubled since.

So no, the broadcasters are not blameless they are right in the thick of it.

They can walk away, like Sky then when they refused to bid for the CL as BT completely over paid for them.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122085856#Comment_122085856

EPL rights have been on the decline since BT got on the Sky payment platform a number of years ago, that killed the Sky BT bidding war.

The cost of rights if calculated per game has been reducing since 2016

The 2016/17 – 2018/19 deal was approx £10.19m per game, the current deal (which was rolled over during COVID) is £8.11m per game, and the new deal is £6.2m per game.

https://www.sports.legal/2024/02/inside-the-english-premier-leagues-latest-media-rights-deal-what-does-it-tell-us-about-the-current-state-of-play-of-the-market/#:~:text=%C2%A36.2m%20per%20game,%C2%A310.19m%20per%20game).

The EPL prevented the auction being a s**t show this time by increasing the number of games, reducing the packages and increasing the length of the contract.

There was talk that the broadcasters might try and lowball the EPL this time because of the threat of illegal streaming but the EPL prevented that by doing what I mentioned above.

Apothic_Red

We cut the cord with Sky about 2 years ago, hooked up an old FTA receiver & have been happy with that. Pay for most the streaming apps so someone is making money from us. I find you are only one degree removed from someone in a WhatsApp group who can hook you up with a supplier.

Firestick arrived yesterday, had been waiting on Eir FTTH but that's sorted now too.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122085912#Comment_122085912

What they pay per game is moot, they don't charge per game anymore.

The pertinent figures are how much they paid in total and how this is reflected in the sub.

IPTV offer all 360 games on dozens of channels. SKY/BT won't win by offering more choice, because that is impossible.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122085975#Comment_122085975

SKY/BT won't win by offering more choice, because that is impossible.

Yes it's impossible because they don't make the rules, the EPL does.

Boggles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122086002#Comment_122086002

No it's impossible, because it is impossible to exceed 360.

irishgeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122086083#Comment_122086083

Its impossible because they can't break the law and show 3pm games.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122086811#Comment_122086811

Another perk to the dodgy box. All the 3pm kick offs. Another thing it does that $ky can't.

cj maxx

thinking of getting one next week . Can’t be doing with paying a fortune for basic channels

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122087836#Comment_122087836

What device you going for?

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

Go for anything along the lines of the formuler boxes in and around the €120 to €150 price range for a nice experience. Don't go budget with a fire stick.

TheDriver

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122087948#Comment_122087948

My 3 firesticks all run iptv fine, zero issues. Each cost 30-40 in sale and power off the tv so out of sight.

I appreciate there's some serious hardware out there but a firestick isn't bad.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122087935#Comment_122087935

I don’t know. The neighbour knows a man that will chip sky boxes

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122088002#Comment_122088002

Chipped. Havent heard that in a long time. So your sky box is taken and then returned to you? Or do you get a new device? Id be interested to know whats being charged and what you get access to.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122088002#Comment_122088002

Surely a piss take, haven't heard that in 20 years.

jj880

I suspect someone is being liberal with language. Has to be an IPTV installation of some kind surely.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122088027#Comment_122088027

I don’t know what he charges , but I think he comes out and does the job . My mail fear is when I cancel sky sports they’ll visit me .

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122088041#Comment_122088041

Yeah I don't like the idea of anyone altering a sky box. Arent there fees if you dont return sky boxes? Could be better to just get your own device. Post here if you find out more details on what exactly this guy is selling.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122088053#Comment_122088053

I’ll be keeping sky as I’ve no signal from the ariel but cutting sky sports . And getting all the other stuff for free

irishgeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122088053#Comment_122088053

The fees to return the box and only for the first 12months.