Sky promise to crack down on dodgy boxes as survey show shocking extent of use across UK and Ireland

The majority thing illegal streaming is 'acceptable'

With Fire Stick usage on the rise, reports in UK and Ireland suggest that most sports fans believe it is fine to illegal stream action.

People caught distributing the illegal streaming devices, or watching them, could face fines of up to £50,000 and time in prison in the UK.

A Sky spokesperson told the Daily Mail: “At Sky, we invest significantly in protecting our content, which can include taking action against those who watch Sky without paying the proper subscription fee.

“We of course ensure that any action we take is compliant with all applicable laws.”

In the UK, the Sport Industry Report showed that 66 per cent of sports professionals, and 58 per cent of the regular population believe illegal streaming to be “acceptable”. 

In Ireland, a similar study found that there were 490 million visits to piracy websites in 2024, and that dodgy box usage is in between 320,000 and 400,000 households.

In Italy, fines of at least €154 per person have been issued, with Greece introducing new fines for those accessing the streams also and Belgium and Portugal are looking to follow suit.

In the UK, if someone is found guilty of using the device to stream, they could be charged under the 2006 Fraud Act, but in Ireland the focus is on dodgy box distributors and sellers, rather than users, with a lack of laws present to tackle individual users.

Sky to use special tactics to find users?

Sky is planning to use customers’ personal information in a new strategy to identify some of the households using illegal “dodgy boxes”.

The broadcaster will reportedly request to leverage available data — including details from social media and other sources — to locate addresses that may be distributing or using  unauthorised devices without paying for subscriptions, according to the Daily Mirror. 

It has been suggested that Sky will look to use private detectives to collect data on dodgy box users, including through WhatsApp channels that distribute the boxes.

Dodgy boxes killing GAA streaming

The founder of GAA streaming provider Clubber, Jimmy Doyle, came out strong against dodgy boxes last year, blaming them for the potential loss of jobs and comparing their actions to those of shop thieves.

Speaking with the Irish Examiner, he said: "It's not unreasonable for us to assume that there is at least 40% leakage right now of people who are just watching on the dodgy box.

"We have about 15 people working directly for us, and we have a huge network of videographers and commentators in every county that we operate in. So if we go, all of these guys are going out of jobs as well.

"It's theft from a small business and others like us. You're taking that out of my company's pocket and our ability to stay in business."