The Voodoo IPTV lawsuit was a federal case DISH Network and its security partner NagraStar filed in May 2020 against the Canada-based operators of a pirate streaming service that allegedly retransmitted DISH satellite programming to roughly 50,000 paying subscribers. Filed as DISH Network L.L.C. v. Motasaki et al. (No. 4:20-cv-01702) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the case named five individuals and eleven anonymous “Doe” defendants. It ended in March 2021 with an out-of-court settlement and a permanent injunction.1CourtListener. DISH Network LLC v. Motasaki, Docket
What Voodoo IPTV Was
Voodoo IPTV marketed itself as a cheap alternative to traditional pay-TV. Its websites, including Iptvvoodoo.com, VoodooTV.in, and BuyIPTVOnline.net, advertised more than 2,500 live channels, over 5,000 movies, and more than 2,000 television series, sold at roughly $6.50 to $15 per month. A “Reseller Program” allowed third parties to buy credits in bulk and distribute device codes to their own customers.2TorrentFreak. DISH Sues Canada-Based Pirate IPTV Provider Voodoo IPTV
Subscribers accessed the service by buying an Android TV box and a monthly “Device Code” that unlocked the stream. According to DISH’s complaint, the operators captured DISH’s satellite signal using eleven subscription accounts registered under false names, then retransmitted the programming over the internet. Channels identified in the complaint included USA Network, Showtime, Lifetime, BET, Univision, Telemundo, Willow Cricket, Zee TV, and dozens of international-language networks.3TechNadu. DISH v. Voodoo IPTV Complaint
Who DISH Sued
The complaint named five individuals, four of them in Ontario, Canada, and one in Nepal:
- Cren Motasaki of Toronto, described as running day-to-day operations.
- Atta Ur Rauf of Vaughan, described as the sales and financial manager and a public “Authorized Reseller.”
- Rafayet Alam (also known as Rafa Abdul) of Kitchener, who allegedly handled sales through Phatelectronics.com and operated CDN.tm, a content-delivery service.
- Pepin Woolcock of Guelph, identified as a programmer and developer.
- Sajan Kyubi Shrestha of Kavrepalanchok, Nepal, also identified as a programmer and developer.
Eleven “Doe” defendants were listed as the people behind the fake DISH subscription accounts used to feed the service. DISH said it planned to name them after discovery.3TechNadu. DISH v. Voodoo IPTV Complaint
The Legal Claims and Damages Exposure
DISH brought the case under the Federal Communications Act rather than under copyright law. The complaint alleged two categories of violations.
Under 47 U.S.C. § 605(a), DISH alleged unauthorized interception and retransmission of satellite signals for commercial gain. Statutory damages under that provision run from $1,000 to $10,000 per violation, rising to as much as $100,000 per violation if the conduct is found willful.
Under 47 U.S.C. § 605(e)(4), DISH alleged manufacturing, selling, or distributing devices and codes designed to help end-users receive satellite programming without authorization. Damages there run from $10,000 to $100,000 per device code sold.
DISH also sought a permanent injunction, seizure and destruction of piracy-related hardware and software, and reimbursement of attorney’s fees and investigative costs. The company argued the Texas court had jurisdiction because the defendants directed their conduct at U.S. consumers and caused financial harm inside the country.3TechNadu. DISH v. Voodoo IPTV Complaint
How the Case Ended
The case was assigned to Judge George Carol Hanks Jr. and terminated on March 9, 2021, less than ten months after it was filed.1CourtListener. DISH Network LLC v. Motasaki, Docket It resolved in an out-of-court settlement. As part of the deal, CDN.tm agreed to a permanent injunction barring it from selling content-delivery services in the United States for Voodoo IPTV. A CDN.tm representative told TorrentFreak, “The Voodoo guys used our Verizon CDN services to stream to the USA. As a CDN company, we can’t control the content.”2TorrentFreak. DISH Sues Canada-Based Pirate IPTV Provider Voodoo IPTV
The financial terms were not publicly disclosed.
What Happened to the Service After
After the settlement, Voodoo IPTV reportedly shut down its public-facing websites and stopped accepting new subscribers. Forum posts from existing users indicated the service kept operating on a restricted basis for customers who had already signed up.4TROYPOINT Insider. Is Voodoo Streams Really Not Accepting New Subscriptions
Grandfathered subscribers reported tighter terms: accounts locked to a single IP address, immediate termination for late payment, and no plan changes allowed. The service migrated through a series of domain names. By late 2025, users described major reliability problems, Bitcoin-only payment demands, and lost channel lineups. Some attributed the decline to the reported death of the service’s founder, though that claim is unverified.4TROYPOINT Insider. Is Voodoo Streams Really Not Accepting New Subscriptions
Where This Case Fits in DISH’s Anti-Piracy Campaign
The Voodoo IPTV suit was one filing in a broader legal push. Around the same time, DISH won a $3.33 million default judgment against Boom Media, a New York-based pirate IPTV reseller run by John and Debra Henderson, after they failed to appear; the judge calculated damages using Henderson’s own YouTube statement that a payment processor was holding $50,000 from $15 device-code sales.5TorrentFreak. Pirate IPTV Reseller Boom Media Ordered to Pay $3.3M in Damages Other results in the same campaign include a $100 million default judgment against the operators of Nitro TV and a $90 million judgment against the operators of SetTV.6NagraStar. Pirate IPTV Owners Liable for $100M in Damages
Later filings continued the pattern. DISH sued DMTN IPTV in the Southern District of New York in February 2026, seeking over $21 million.7Advanced Television. DISH Network Files $21M Lawsuit Against DMTN IPTV It also pursued the Malaysian-based Lemo/Kemo IPTV operation and its U.S. reseller for $27.15 million, and filed a $25 million suit against UK hosting provider Innetra for allegedly ignoring takedown notices.8TorrentFreak. DISH Identifies Lemo Kemo Pirate IPTV Operators, Sues U.S. Reseller for $27M Across the cases, DISH uses subpoenas to domain registrars, payment processors, and social media companies to unmask anonymous operators, then pursues large statutory damage claims and injunctions aimed at cutting pirate services off from the infrastructure they need to reach U.S. viewers.