A new report from Enders Analysis exposes the escalating problem of industrial theft of live sports broadcasts, posing a serious threat to the financial viability of broadcasters and streaming services. The report, titled ‘Video piracy: Big tech is clearly unwilling to address the problem,’ highlights the concerning decline in effectiveness of Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems provided by Microsoft and Google for the past two decades.
“Big tech is both friend and foe in solving the piracy problem. Conflicting incentives harm consumer safety by providing easy discovery of illegal pirated services, and reduced friction through low-cost hardware such as the Amazon Firestick,” says Enders. Data from 2025, cited by Enders from Sky in the Financial Times, reveals that a staggering 59% of UK individuals who admitted to accessing pirated streams in the past year via a physical device did so using an Amazon Fire device.
The report further criticizes Big Tech for their "combination of ambivalence and inertia" in addressing the issue proactively with content owners to strengthen security measures, while simultaneously guiding consumers toward illegal services through other aspects of their businesses. A recent legal dispute between Cloudflare and LaLiga, concerning IP blocking measures that affected millions of users accessing unrelated sites, underscores this concern.
Enders Analysis research indicates that illegal streams account for a “double digit percentage” of premium TV broadcasts. Industry leaders at Sky and DAZN have voiced serious apprehension, stating that the rapidly increasing piracy rates are jeopardizing their ability to secure the rights to high-profile events like Premier League football. This situation poses a significant challenge to the future of premium sports broadcasting.