Sky has leveled strong criticism at Amazon for its perceived inaction regarding the rampant piracy of sports broadcasts facilitated by Fire Sticks. Estimates suggest these devices are indirectly responsible for approximately half of all illegal Premier League football streaming in the UK alone. This, according to Nick Herm, Sky’s chief operating officer, is costing the industry “hundreds of millions of dollars”.
Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football conference, Herm urged Amazon to collaborate more effectively in tackling the issue. He highlighted the widespread awareness of modified Fire Sticks enabling access to pirated services: “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.” Jailbreaking allows the installation of apps outside Amazon’s operating system.
Herm further emphasized the scale of the problem: “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.” It’s noteworthy that Amazon was a recent Premier League rights holder, broadcasting matches over Christmas, and continues to offer Champions League coverage in the UK.
Sky and the Premier League actively partner with FACT, an anti-piracy organization. FACT has reported numerous investigations into Fire Stick-related piracy over the past year, including a recent case resulting in a two-year prison sentence for a man selling modified devices.
In response, Amazon stated to the FT that it is “committed to providing customers with a high-quality streaming experience while actively promoting a streaming landscape that respects intellectual property rights and encourages the responsible consumption of content”.