Amazon Urged to Show Red Card to Pirate Sports Streamers

U.S. tech giant Amazon (AMZN) has been urged to step up to the plate and tackle pirate streaming of sports and premium TV shows.

Sporting Theft

A report from media analysts Enders has revealed that pirate streaming is costing broadcasters and sports associations billions of dollars a year. It has described the practice as “industrial scale theft.”

Enders said that pirated feeds account for a ‘double digit percentage’ of all viewing of premium sports and television. A single pirated event of a high profile event or game such as Premier League football can attract tens of thousands of people.

U.K.-based broadcaster Sky, owned by Comcast (CMCSA) has previously blasted Amazon for failing to do enough to prevent people watching its game coverage for free via its Fire Stick TV devices. Sky suggests that around 50% of illegal streaming – or piracy as it is known – is carried out in this way.

Sky has even claimed that chants of “We’ve got our Fire Sticks” have been heard from fans at Premier League grounds during games.

Faster Action Needed

Back in 2023 Sky Sports paid the bulk of a record $8.5 billion, alongside fellow broadcaster TNT Sports, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to show the Premier League between 2025 and 2029. Viewers also have to pay to watch matches in other football leagues such as the Championship as well as a whole range of sports including Formula One, golf, cricket and American Football.

As such they claim that pirate streaming means leaking susbscribers and a revenue hit.

Sky said it wanted faster and more joined up action from tech platforms and government to address the problem.

Amazon has previously said that it has prohibited the sale of illicit streaming devices that infringed the rights of third parties.

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