Fans who illegally stream football matches could face prison sentences amid a piracy crackdown, reports claim.
Following repeated alerts from the Premier League, there has been a major focus on tackling illegal streaming, which is said to cost more than £2billion-a-year.
In particular, ‘dodgy’ Amazon Fire Sticks which have been modified to illegally give fans access to content from major TV channels.
Police have made a concerted effort to tackle illegal streaming in recent years, with a Halifax man jailed in January for selling the devices across an 18-month period between 2020 and 2022.
Sunny Kanda, 41, of Creek View, Wheatley, was accused of cheating legitimate providers out of more than £108,000.
However, while the crackdown has, to this point, been focused on those who distribute the devices, new reports claim that could soon change.
Fans who use ‘dodgy’ Fire Sticks could be jailed for up to five years, a new report has claimed
A report claimed that illegal streaming is costing broadcasters and sports bodies upwards of £2billion a year
According to the Daily Record, fraud investigators have warned that users will also be targeted by authorities from next season, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Federation Against Copyright Theft chairman Kieron Sharp told the publication that those who use the devices could ultimately find themselves caught up in investigations.
‘It is possible consumers could get swept up in our investigations,’ he said. ‘We did have the attitude that we would rather not criminalise the end user.
‘If we take out a gang and they have a customer database, we would normally write to the consumers telling them, “What you are doing is breaking the law.”
‘I would never say to consumers they will not get prosecuted because that just isn’t correct.’
Sky and DAZN are said to be two of multiple other companies worried about the soaring rise in the rate of TV piracy.
So many people are watching these illegal streams that it is now comparable to stealing on an ‘industrial scale’, according to media analysts at Enders via The Financial Times.
The report went on to state that a single high-profile event, such as a live football match, can draw ‘tens of thousands’ of viewers away from legitimate streams and towards pirated content.
