The new owner of Foxtel UK sports streaming group DAZN claims that piracy as “almost a crisis for the sports industry” with the Amazon Fire Stick front and Centre of industry concerns with industry heavyweights calling on Amazon to address the issue.

Speaking at Financial Times Conference in the UK Tom Burrows, global head of rights at DAZN Group, described piracy as “almost a crisis for the sports industry,” telling the conference “There’s an argument to say that you can’t get exclusive rights anymore because piracy is so bad.”

Also slamming Amazon for failing to do enough to tackle a crisis in sports broadcast piracy, was Nick Herm, chief operating officer at Sky.

He claimed that said piracy was costing the industry “hundreds of millions of dollars” and called on Amazon to work with broadcasters to crack down on illegal streaming.

It was reported last year that one in four Australians engage in some form of ‘digital piracy,’ gaining access to films or television shows that are either not yet available in the country or are only accessible via paid subscription services such as Foxtel or Stan or the likes of Netflix.

Executives at Sky said the use of Fire Stick TV devices in piracy was so prevalent it had become synonymous with the illegal act.

In the UK more than two dozen suppliers of ‘dodgy’ Amazon Fire TV Sticks were recently raided by police amid a crackdown on the distribution of the video devices that allow people to watch pirated streaming. Anti-piracy body the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) launched the sneak attack on those selling the modified TV sticks in collaboration with UK police forces, with more than 30 suppliers targeted during the two-week operation in December 2024.

Football fans at some grounds in the UK have taken to chanting “we’ve got our Fire Sticks” during games, they added.

In Australia, the big question is whether illegal copying of sports broadcasts such as Formula One races is illegal.

The facts are that if any person who copies, communicates, or exhibits copyrighted content without the permission of the copyright holder will have infringed the owners copyright and is at risk of civil action.

Civil actions do not result in a criminal prosecution or criminal history but can be quite costly.

Civil actions are also not just limited to commercial dealings with copyrighted material and would apply to individuals who download a sporting event or TV show illegally (such as through torrenting software).

Sky has criticised Amazon for failing to do enough to tackle the crisis in sports broadcast piracy, estimating that use of the technology group’s Fire Stick TV devices make up about half of illegal streaming of Premier League football around the world.

He said that Fire Sticks which are a popular item at JB Hi Fi accounted for “probably about half of the piracy” in the UK. Amazon is a Uefa Champions League rights holder that until recently also streamed some Premier League games.

“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,” he told the FT’s Business of Football conference.

“Jail-breaking” a Fire Stick allows people to install third-party streaming apps that can offer free movies and sports.

Herm said: “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, not addressing the issue because they are happy with the sales that Fire Sticks are delivering.

Executives warn that sports rights will suffer as a result of piracy, with widespread illegal streaming undermining the value at which broadcasters would be prepared to pay to secure exclusive coverage.

Media analyst Claire Enders said piracy was “the number one problem of premium football . . . every market is plagued by piracy.”

She added: “I don’t know of any broadcaster that is fully able to monetise sports because of piracy.”

In the UK, Sky is working with the police and rights holders at the Premier League to try to tackle piracy.

But Herm said Amazon had not been helpful enough in addressing the problem.

The broadcaster wants Amazon to lock down or impose controls and restrictions on the use of “side-loaded” unofficial apps on the devices.

Some observers are even calling for Amazon to be banned from being able to bid for sports rights until the issue is fixed.