Dodgy Firestick crackdown: Sky blasts ‘dodgy’ Fire TV Sticks and hints at crackdown on jail-broken devices

• Sky blasts ‘dodgy’ firesticks and calls for online shopping giants to do more.
• Police forces carried out a crackdown on providers of illegal streaming devices last year.
• Amazon has responded to criticism from Sky.

The cost of living crisis has squeezed all of our finances over the last few years. And it might have made the price of expensive TV subscriptions and sport packages feel like a luxury you can no longer afford.

In a bid to slash costs many people have started to turn to illegal streaming - despite the risks, both with the law and opening yourself up to cyber criminals. FACT has warned about the potential dangers of using ‘jail-broken’ devices.

Police forces across the country carried out a crackdown on ‘dodgy’ fire sticks and visited homes in 15 parts of the nation just before Christmas last year. Find out more about that here.

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However Sky - one of the major providers of live sports coverage in the UK - has now hit out at the ‘jail-broken’ streaming services. Here’s all you need to know:

What has Sky said about ‘dodgy’ firesticks?

Speaking at the recent Financial Times Business of Football summit, Sky’s Chief Operating Officer, Nick Herm, highlighted the problem of illegal streaming. He said: "If you speak to friends and colleagues, [or] you watch football, people will know that you can get jail-broken Fire Sticks, and you can access pirated services on Fire Sticks.

“There are football fans who literally have shirts printed out that say Fire Sticks on them. With some of the tech giants, Amazon in particular, we do not get enough engagement to address some of those problems, where people are buying these devices in bulk.”

Amazon has set out its position on such devices, in response to Sky’s criticism. The online shopping giant stated that its “providing customers with a high-quality streaming experience while actively promoting a streaming landscape that respects intellectual property rights”.

Is it illegal to own a ‘dodgy’ firestick?

While having a ‘jail-broken’ device isn’t itself illegal - in fact the term simply means that software restrictions put in place by the developer have been circumvented. But if you do use one to watch pirated material, like live sports for example, you could be putting yourself in legal risk.

Stuart Miller solicitors explains: “Illegally stealing or sharing files that you haven’t paid for – for instance, this can result in as much as a £5,000 fine and imprisonment for five years.”

Learn more about how police detect people using ‘dodgy’ fire sticks. While see which areas were targeted in the crackdown in 2024.