The TV companies Discovery, TV4, and Viaplay have filed a lawsuit against several operators to crack down on illegal IPTV services. The lawsuit, filed with the Stockholm District Court, Patent and Market Court on February 27, states that Discovery, TV4, and Viaplay are suing the Swedish telecom companies Telia, Telenor, Tele2, and Hi3G Access AB.

The TV companies claim that these operators are enabling illegal IPTV services to access their copyrighted content. According to the lawsuit, subscribers to these internet providers have been able to connect to the illegal IPTV service Nordic One/N1’s domains via their internet connections, thereby gaining unauthorized access to retransmissions of content from the TV companies.

Nordic One/N1 is described as one of the largest criminal entities in Sweden and the Nordic region in relation to illegal IPTV. The service hijacks television broadcasts from TV companies and distributors, then rebroadcasts them to the public for a fee via its own servers—without the consent of the rights holders.

“In light of this, it can be concluded that the internet providers have contributed to Nordic One/N1’s infringement of the rights holders’ respective signal rights,” the lawsuit states.

Discovery, TV4, and Viaplay are seeking a court order to prohibit internet service providers from facilitating the illegal use of their content. In other words, operators should be required to pay a specified sum if they violate the ban. The TV companies argue that the operators are partly responsible, meaning they are facilitating copyright infringement by failing to take action.

The widespread use of illegal TV services poses a major challenge for the Swedish media market. A growing number of households are subscribing to so-called illegal IPTV services, which provide unauthorized TV access via the internet. Mediavision’s data shows that at the end of 2024, over 700,000 households in Sweden were paying for such services—a new record and a significant increase compared to spring 2024.

Netflix has established a tradition of publishing a bi-annual engagement report, and late last week, the streaming company released its latest edition, covering viewing data from the second half of 2024.

The report accounts for approximately 99% of all video viewing time on Netflix. During this period, Netflix viewers watched over 94 billion hours of content, marking a 5 percent increase year over year.

Despite premiering only six days before the end of the year, the second season of the Korean series Squid Game topped the second half as the most-viewed series on Netflix, amassing 87 million views. Netflix calculates views by dividing total hours watched by a title’s runtime. Notably, nearly one-third of all viewing on the platform came from non-English shows and films.

Among the most-viewed series, the Norwegian limited series La Palma ranked sixth, with 52 million views. The highest-ranked Nordic film was the Swedish film Let Go, which was the 33rd most-watched movie on Netflix from July to December 2024.

Netflix also highlighted the continued popularity of animated films, which accounted for 10 of the top 25 films in the second half of the year. The highest performing animated title was Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, which collected 67 million views.

The company emphasized that no single title accounts for more than 1 percent of total viewing on Netflix. The most-watched title of H2 2024, Squid Game Season 2, which had the highest number of hours viewed, represented just 0.7 percent of total viewing. According to Netflix, this underscores the importance of investing in a diverse range of high-quality shows and films to cater to its global audience.

Warner Bros. Discovery is the last major media company to report its Q4 2024 earnings. Here are some key highlights from the report:

• Total revenue for Warner Bros. Discovery reached $10 billion in Q4 2024, reflecting a 1% decrease on a constant currency (ex-FX) basis compared to the same quarter last year.
• Advertising revenue declined by 11% ex-FX during the period, while content revenue remained relatively unchanged.
• Direct-to-consumer (DTC) subscribers totalled 116.9 million at the end of the quarter, marking an increase of 6.4 million compared to Q3 2024. The company forecasts 150 million DTC subscribers by the end of 2026.

TV4-affären – en Norgehistoria som skakar om – Sveriges Radio

Mediavision: Podcast listening sets new record in Sweden – Podnews

Podcastlyssnandet på ny rekordnivå i Sverige – Omni

Over 700,000 households in Sweden now have access to illegal IPTV – Nordisk Film & TV Fond

Research: Sweden adds 1m SVoD subs in 2024 – Advanced Television

Nytt rekord för stacking 2024  – Dagens Media

Marie Nilsson: Med lite tur blir 2025 ett ljust medieår – Dagens Media

Svenske unge tilbringer næsten en time om dagen på at se videoer på sociale medier – Mediawatch

Apparna avslöjar svenskarnas dåliga vanor – Dagens Industri

Research: Half Norwegian households now have streaming bundles via operators – Advanced Television

2025 preview: Who drives scripted commissioning next year? – Nordisk Film & TV Fond

Tiktok störst bland unga – det blir konsekvenserna – Expressen

Stadig flere velger strømming med reklame: – Lar seg ikke skremme – Kampanje

Strømming med reklame fortsetter å vokse kraftig i Norge – KOM24