In a massive international operation a week before the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics, Italian authorities have announced the dismantling of a global IPTV network. Dubbed “Operation Switch Off,” the action targeted key infrastructure and a hierarchy of resellers that allegedly served millions of users worldwide.<\/p>\n
No other country in Europe generates as much noise around physical anti-piracy crackdowns as Italy, where \u2018boots-on-the-ground\u2019 operations have become a regular occurrence.<\/p>\n
While the number of affected users doesn\u2019t always\u00a0seem to add up<\/a>, it is clear that Italy can and is willing to take action, where other countries do not see IPTV as a priority.<\/p>\n This week, the local authorities announced another major crackdown. Led by the District Prosecutor\u2019s Office of Catania and the Italian Postal Police, \u201cOperation Switch Off<\/a>\u201d involved raids in 11 Italian cities and 14 countries, including the UK, India, Canada, and Romania.<\/p>\n With support from Eurojust, Europol, and Interpol, the operation dismantled a global network allegedly generating between \u20ac8 million and \u20ac10 million in illicit revenue every month. Authorities say that they identified 31 key suspects and reportedly disconnected more than 125,000 users in Italy alone, with millions more affected globally.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nOperation Switch Off<\/h2>\n