Copyright infringement is illegal. It's just that it's a civil matter, rather than criminal (in the UK at least). The simplest explanation is it's the copyright holder taking you to court, rather than the Crown. Best UK example of this that I can think of is the annual subscription to the BBC, I mean licence fee. It is the BBC and their agents (TV Licensing/Capita) who'd take you to court for non-payment, not the police or CPS.
Breach of contract, e.g. behaviour that invalidates the agreed T&Cs, is also a civil matter - but rarely illegal.
In the case of IPTV and the use of a VPN, proxy or DNS 'hack' to get around geolocking or other system will be against the terms and conditions, but I'm not sure if it will be a violation of copyright?