Talkov Law Corp. says that two US laws cover signal theft from satellite services (47 USC section 605) and cable TV (47 US section 553), but “if a signal is received via the Internet (which is neither a satellite TV transmission or a cable TV transmission), it falls outside the coverage of the alleged TV signal piracy statutes.
Read the full article on Lexology
Why it matters
If this interpretation withstands the right (or the wrong!) challenge, it could be a real game changer for pirates who redistribute content that they received over the Internet; whether the content comes from other pirates or from legitimate IP video services such as sports leagues, virtual MVPDs and OTT aggregators who serve their subscribers via apps.
According to this article, “Courts in the Central District of California have repeatedly found that TV signal piracy statutes do not apply to internet signals.”
