The technology is legal and so is player software. What decides the answer in any given case is whether the provider you subscribe to holds the rights to what it carries. IPTV is a delivery method, not a legal category, in the same way that a web browser is neither legal nor illegal by itself.
Watching television over the internet is ordinary and lawful; every major broadcaster does it. What matters is licensing. A provider that has bought the rights to the channels and films it distributes is operating legally, and so are its subscribers. A provider that redistributes those channels without permission is infringing copyright, and in many countries knowingly paying for such a service exposes the subscriber as well. Prosecutions in Europe have overwhelmingly targeted the operators of unlicensed services rather than individual viewers, but the enforcement picture varies by country and continues to change, so treat that as context and not as a guarantee.
Subscribing to a licensed IPTV service; using player software; watching free-to-air channels a broadcaster publishes openly; playing your own recordings and media files.
Services offering thousands of premium channels for a few euros a month, sold without any named rights holder. If the price makes no commercial sense, the licensing usually does not exist.
Yes. A media player decodes video; it does not decide what you point it at. VLC and Kodi have been distributed openly for two decades on exactly that basis, and the same reasoning applies to Livaro. The relevant legal principle across the EU is that neutral, general-purpose tools are lawful, while the courts have held that deliberately supplying preloaded access to infringing sources is not. That is precisely why Livaro ships empty: no channels, no preloaded playlists, no directory of providers, and no way for us to give you one.
We sell a one-time licence for player software, and that is the entire transaction. We do not operate streaming servers, we hold no catalogue, we take no commission from any provider and we do not recommend one. When you install Livaro it shows nothing at all until you supply a playlist that you obtained yourself. What you play through it, and whether that is lawful where you live, is your responsibility. Belgian law applies to our terms.
This is not a disclaimer bolted on afterwards; it is how the product is built. It is also why the demo content in every screenshot on this site is royalty-free material from the Blender Foundation and the public domain, rather than screenshots of somebody's channel list.
There is no register you can consult, but a few signals are reliable. A licensed service names the company behind it, publishes an address and terms, charges a price comparable to other licensed television in your country, and offers a channel line-up that matches what it could plausibly have licensed. An unlicensed one tends to be anonymous, sells lifetime access for a token amount, advertises every premium sports package at once, and is reachable only through a chat app. If you are unsure, ask the provider directly which rights they hold.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Copyright law differs by country and changes over time. If you need certainty about your own situation, consult a qualified lawyer in your jurisdiction.
No. Player software is a neutral tool, like a web browser or VLC. Legality depends on the source you point it at, not on the player.
No, and we cannot. Livaro ships with no channels, no preloaded playlists and no list of providers. You bring your own playlist; without one the app has nothing to show.
Enforcement in Europe has mostly targeted operators rather than viewers, but the rules and the appetite for enforcement differ per country and are changing. Paying a service that has no rights to what it sells carries risk; only a lawyer in your country can tell you how much.
Because that would make us part of the supply chain rather than a software vendor, and because we cannot verify anyone else's licensing. Keeping the player and the source strictly separate is deliberate.
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