Hungarian Officials Shut Down Illegal Streaming Service

The Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration (NTCA) officials recently shut down an unauthorized website that was illegally streaming 88 Hungarian-language TV channels. The officials seized a significant number of computers, decoders and TV cards from the home of one of the men operating the website in the capital of Budapest. The officials also disconnected six servers which hosted the streaming website.

The website streamed the channels of one of the best-known telecommunication service providers with nationwide coverage in Hungary and had more than 8,000 registered users.

An illegal Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service that is provided without the payment of royalties to copyright and related rights owners is considered a criminal case, and the perpetrator can be sentenced to up to eight years in prison. It is estimated that the streaming service caused financial losses of approximately EUR 560,000 (USD 660,000) for copyright holders.

Prepared by: Erika Farkas

For more information, please contact hungary@petosevic.com.

Source: Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration website