Fight against digital piracy in Chile: Subtel orders blocking of digital platforms

The Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel) recently sent an official notice to internet service providers (ISPs) to comply with a court order to block digital television platforms that retransmit content without authorisation, including MagisTV, Flujo TV and Xuper TV. The measure represents a significant step forward in the effective enforcement of intellectual property law in the Chilean digital environment, particularly in the area of illegal IPTV.

The court ruling and its scope

The ruling was issued by the 19th Civil Court of Santiago, in the framework of an action filed by Warner Bros. for infringement of the Intellectual Property Law, due to the unauthorised retransmission of its audiovisual catalogue. As publicly reported, the order contemplates:

• The total blocking of Magis TV, Flujo TV, Xuper TV and their variants.
• The prohibition of access to any domain, subdomain, IP address, link, redirect or associated site.
• Instructing app shops to remove the available versions.
• A deadline of five working days for ISPs to implement the technical blocking measures.
• The obligation to display a message informing that the site has been blocked for infringement of intellectual property legislation.

Impact on the audiovisual ecosystem

IPTV platforms that retransmit content without authorisation generate multiple effects on the digital ecosystem, such as competitive distortion vis-à-vis legal streaming services, cross-cutting economic impact on rights holders, producers, distributors and operators, as well as cybersecurity and data protection risks associated with applications that operate outside regulatory frameworks.

The debate intensified weeks earlier following public questioning of the Paris marketplace, after Zapping executives warned about the commercialisation of devices associated with IPTV services previously questioned for unauthorised content streaming.

Regulatory framework and future improvements 

The court order is part of a broader context that includes, first, the Subtel's official notice addressed to internet access service providers (ISPs), which aims to comply with court rulings ordering the blocking of IPTV platforms that retransmit content without authorisation and, second, the recent reactivation in the Economy Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of a bill that seeks to strengthen the protection of intellectual property in the digital environment, explicitly incorporating figures related to technological protection measures in Law No. 17,336.º 17.336. The initiative aims to establish sanctions for those who circumvent or facilitate the circumvention of technological systems designed to control access to protected content, as well as for those who develop, market or use tools aimed at violating such barriers.