Earlier this month, some Virgin Media users have been sent a letter to tell them that their current Virgin Media box they are using to access Virgin Media (and therefore Sky UK) pay channels will soon no longer be able to be used for pay tv channels.

They will be issued with a free upgrade to a new Vigin Media box. ( see community.virginmedia.com/t5/Virgin-TV-V6/Free-swap-to-V6/td-p/4277655 )

Why is this news and how could it impact your viewing on IPTV?

Well, these old Virgin Media boxes are unsecured, and have been able to be hacked by cardsharing, meaning people have been able to get free or reduced cost UK TV via Virgin Media.

It is understood that this move to newer Virgin Media boxes will stop this cardsharing and stop people from getting “free tv”.

And this could be a problem for many IPTV / Internet TV suppliers, who use these cardsharing services on Virgin Media to feed their streams. They may now find that their feeds are no longer available.

According to the letters, “from 1st July” was a date mentioned for the old boxes to be swapped to new boxes. And according to reports some IPTV providers have already pulled the plug on using these Virgin feeds, or have stopped their IPTV service altogether.