“Operation Switch Off: Taking Down Pirate TV Streaming Giants”

An international law enforcement operation known as Operation Switch Off has successfully shut down three large-scale illegal IPTV services. The collaborative effort was led by Europol, Eurojust, and Interpol, with the primary coordination from Italy’s District Prosecutor’s Office of Catania and Italian State Police. The operation spanned across 11 cities and 14 countries, targeting illicit streaming services globally.

The timing of the operation in Italy was strategic, as the country is set to host the Winter Olympics in Milan from February 6 to 22. This crackdown on illegal broadcasting aimed to prevent unauthorized access to sports events, a top priority for local authorities.

In addition to seizing crucial infrastructure, law enforcement officials identified 31 individuals suspected of involvement in the illegal IPTV services. The suspects were located in Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Romania, and Kosovo.

The police’s official statement indicated that the investigation uncovered evidence linking the suspects to a transnational organized criminal group engaged in various illegal activities such as broadcasting unauthorized television programming, computer fraud, and money laundering.

The dismantling of the criminal operation disrupted the illegal distribution of content from major companies like Sky, DAZN, Mediaset, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Paramount, and Disney+. These services unlawfully captured and retransmitted broadcasts to IPTV subscribers.

The operators of these illegal services utilized tactics like cryptocurrency payments and setting up shell companies to conceal their financial transactions and evade taxes.

According to the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a coalition supported by numerous media and entertainment companies, the three primary services targeted in the operation were IPTVItalia, migliorIPTV, and DarkTV. The ACE emphasized the industrial scale of the criminal organization involved in distributing unauthorized content to millions of users worldwide.

The Italian authorities reported that the recent operation affected approximately 250 resellers and 100,000 IPTV subscribers in Italy alone. Furthermore, six servers were shut down in Romania, with an additional server located in Africa.

Although ACE announced the takedown of related websites and Telegram sales channels, active sites for IPTVItalia and migliorIPTV were still accessible at the time of this report. The operational status of their backend services remained uncertain.

For legal platforms broadcasting the Winter Olympics 2026 in various countries, users were directed to an official resource for more information.

Bulgarian pirates also face legal action

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the dismantling of three pirate services in Bulgaria, operating on domains like ‘zamunda.net,’ ‘arenabg.com,’ and ‘zelka.org.’ These websites were known for distributing illegal copies of copyrighted works owned by U.S. companies, including movies, TV shows, video games, software, and e-books.

The three pirate portals were popular in Bulgaria, ranking among the top 10 most visited domains in the country. Their activities generated significant internet traffic, allowing the operators to profit from advertisements.

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