Cineby Shuts Down as Canada Expands Pirate Site Blocking to 13 Brands

Last Updated on August 28, 2026 by Ethan Parker

Pirate streaming site Cineby is shutting down for good, and its sister sites are going with it. The closure lands right as a Canadian court order lets studios add IPTV services and free streaming brands to ISP blocklists without going back to a judge. Here's what happened and what it means for cord-cutters.

Table of Contents

What Happened

Cineby told visitors this week that it and all related services will cease operations on August 26, that every server will be shut down, and that every user account will be deleted. The site's sister properties Cineplay and Fmovies+ now show the same message. The operators gave no reason, but Cineby was already flagged by Hollywood as a notorious piracy operation and blocked by court order in several countries.

The closure follows a Federal Court order signed July 3 by Justice Richard Southcott. It was requested by Rogers, TVA, Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros. and other studios, and it names 13 piracy brands. Six are IPTV subscription services (Apollo Group TV, Diablo IPTV, GLO TV, IPGuys, Jio TV and Smart4K/Platinum) and seven are free streaming sites (123Movies, Cineby, FMovies, HydraHD, Putlocker, TheTVApp and WatchSeries). Eight of Canada's largest ISPs, including Bell, Rogers, Telus and TekSavvy, must block an initial list of 18 domains and subdomains. It's the first Canadian blocking order to cover paid IPTV subscriptions and public streaming sites in a single proceeding.

Key Facts

13 piracy brands are named in the order, split between 6 IPTV services and 7 streaming sites.
18 domains and subdomains sit on the initial blocklist.
8 Canadian ISPs are ordered to block them, including Bell, Rogers, Telus and TekSavvy.
Cineby, which is on the list, says it will shut down on August 26, with Cineplay and Fmovies+ following.
Operators get 7 days' notice, and if no ISP objects within 5 business days the block takes effect without a hearing.
Additions can be filed every 10 business days, with no court involvement.

What It Means

The new “Expanded Scope” mechanism is the real change. Earlier Canadian orders let rightsholders update a blocklist with copycat domains, but every addition still needed a fresh court order. Now the studios can argue that a new service is “similarly infringing,” warn the operator, and if no ISP objects within five business days the site is simply added. Justice Southcott calls it an “incremental modification” and borrowed the idea from a UK “omnibus” order that lets studios block structurally infringing services without naming them in advance.

For viewers the practical effect is that pirate libraries and cheap IPTV subscriptions are getting harder to reach in Canada. Cineby's shutdown shows the pressure is real, and TorrentFreak notes the “hydra” pattern in which every closure spawns new sites. The reliable route is still the same: a VPN plus an official streaming service.

Related Guide

If you want a legal way to watch premium channels in Canada, our step-by-step guide to watching Sky Go in Canada covers the full setup.

Source: TorrentFreak – Canada's ‘Expanded Scope' Blocking Order Targets Existing and Future Pirate Sites, and Pirate Streaming Giant Cineby Announces Surprise Shutdown.

This is a news report, not legal advice. Blocking orders and service availability change quickly. Check your local laws and each service's Terms of Service.