07/04/2025 - Illegal IPTV use is rising sharply in the region, particularly in Sweden, prompting lawsuits and government action

Mediavision, a media-analysis service based in Stockholm, has been focusing on the widespread use of illegal TV services, which have been rising significantly and have become a major challenge for the Swedish media market. In fact, despite efforts to rein in the use of such services, the consumption of pirated content, including movies, series and sports, continues to grow. In the autumn of 2024, over 700,000 households in Sweden were paying for such a service, a number that set a new record, representing a 25% rise compared to spring 2024.

Mediavision told Cineuropa that in spring 2024, the situation in the Nordics was quite alarming: Denmark and Sweden recorded a 13% uptake of illegal IPTV (internet protocol television); this percentage is slightly lower in the other Nordic countries, standing at 10% in Norway and 8% in Finland. Illegal IPTV allows users to access thousands of TV channels and streaming services at a significantly lower monthly cost than legal services. Those who sell illegal IPTV do so without holding any rights to the content. The substantial increase could possibly be linked to the price hike for legal services as well as a higher level of availability of illegal services.

Pirated content consumption, such as the illegal viewing of films, series or sports, has also increased. Last year, Mediavision estimated that there were about 5 million pirates in the Nordics, aged 15-74, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 0.4 million.

Natalia Borelius, project manager at Mediavision, told Cineuropa: “We have data running back many years on this topic. Sweden, unfortunately, traditionally has a high level of piracy: first, it was downloading (you may recall The Pirate Bay), and then it shifted to streaming. For many years, piracy seemed to drop while legal alternatives were prospering. That changed a couple of years ago, and piracy is now increasing again, even though we have not yet reached the same level as we were at ten years ago. Nordic consumers are very digital, which may explain why piracy is so common here. Finally, it must be noted that pirates sometimes also pay for content.”

Owing to this alarming situation, at the beginning of 2024, the Swedish government initiated an investigation that aimed to review the national film policy. Now, the government has decided on an additional directive to analyse the need for a ban on private individuals who use illegal IPTV and the conditions under which it could be implemented.

In this context, it should be noted that on 27 February 2025, the TV companies Discovery, TV4 and Viaplay filed a lawsuit against Swedish telecom companies Telia, Telenor, Tele2 and Hi3G Access AB in order to crack down on illegal IPTV services. The lawsuit was filed with the Stockholm District, Patent and Market Court. According to the lawsuit, users of these internet providers have been able to visit the illegal IPTV service Nordic One/N1, one of the biggest illegal IPTV services in the Nordic region, which takes TV broadcasts without permission and re-sells them to the public through its own servers, accessed via users’ internet connections.

Discovery, TV4 and Viaplay are asking the court to stop internet providers from allowing this to happen. They also want the providers to pay fines if they break this rule. The TV companies believe the providers share the responsibility, as they are not doing enough to stop the copyright violations.