The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) said it served legal notices on 13 illegal IPTV operators across Dublin, Cork, Donegal, Offaly, Limerick, Louth, Clare, Westmeath and Laois over two weeks in December 2024.

The notices were delivered in-person, by post and through email and the outcome “has been successful, resulting in services being shut down, deleted social media profiles, subscriptions being terminated and paid settlements agreed”, it said.

FACT, which works with law enforcement in the UK and Ireland to tackle piracy, said this was its fourth wave of enforcement action since March 2023, which has resulted in the closure of almost 70 illegal services across Ireland.

Kieron Sharp, chairman of FACT, said: “Together with our partners we will continue to identify and take action against Illegal IPTV service providers. They are breaking the law, making criminal profits and putting consumers at real risk of malware, data loss and identity theft.

“We want to protect consumers from these risks and operations such as this ensure the message goes out. It is not scaremongering; these are real criminal actions which consumers and their families are exposed to.

“These investigations and operations will continue this new year.”

A number of individuals have been sentenced in relation to illegal streaming operations in the Irish courts in recent months.

In July 2024, Naas Circuit Criminal Court imposed a 16-month sentence on Kildare man Ciaran Donovan, 42, for operating an illegal ‘dodgy box’ TV streaming service, King Kong Media, and possession of over €900,000 in criminal proceeds.

The prosecution followed an investigation initiated by Sky’s anti-piracy team.

North of the border, Derry man Cormac McGuckin, 38, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment at Omagh Crown Court in October 2024 for running an illegal streaming TV company. He pleaded guilty to several fraud charges dating back to 2016.

His wife, Maura McGuckin, 34, was also sentenced to a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, for crimes associated with her husband’s activities.