Sky households may see viewing disrupted amid crackdown on illegal streaming

Daily Record

14-07-2025

Sky is working alongside authorities to disrupt cyber crooks and shut down unofficial streaming services.
With many streaming services requiring a monthly fee to access their content, this can lead to a hefty sum come payday. When you add all the TV packages and apps together, it's a significant amount of money leaving your bank account each month.
Therefore, it is perhaps not too surprising that millions of people have moved to using illegal streams instead. Many people viewing content like this have a 'dodgy' or 'broken' Fire TV Stick.
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These popular but illegal devices offer many households the chance to watch their favourite sports channels, tv series, and films for a single yearly payment, which is a fraction of the overall annual payment for all the streaming services.
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However, with so many people making the switch so they don't need to pay their regular content fees, it hasn't gone unnoticed by the affected content providers.
Major TV services, as well as the authorities, are warning customers about the dangers of illegal streaming, reports the Mirror.
And they aren't stopping there, by working together they are also cracking down on unofficial streaming services so they can protect households from being attacked by cyber crooks.
In the latest crackdown, it has been confirmed that an illegal streaming platform has been completely disrupted, with two people in their 30s being arrested.
Searches of two residential addresses in Oldbury and a data centre in Cheltenham were carried out by a team from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU).
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From this, a man and woman were taken into custody - a 30-year-old man who was suspected of running the illegal streaming service and a 32-year-old woman suspected of distributing material infringing copyright and receiving criminal property.
PIPCU's investigation suggests that both the man and woman received significant profits from this illegal service. As well as the arrests, any content servers were also seized, which means those who signed up for the service will no longer receive any of their 'free' content.
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Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt from the PIPCU at City of London Police spoke on the latest arrests, saying: "This activity should serve as a reminder that PIPCU will pursue criminals who seek to profit from illegal streaming and disrupt their operations.
"This is a crime that diverts funds away from the creative and entertainment industries, money that supports thousands of technical and support staff. At the same time, it exposes end users to the risks of data theft, fraud and malware."
Matt Hibbert, Sky's group director of anti-piracy, said: "We are extremely grateful to the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit for taking this action against a significant pirate operation.
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"We will continue to work alongside the police and industry partners to tackle piracy and disrupt the criminal networks behind it. This action helps to keep consumers safe from the serious risks that piracy can pose to devices and personal property."
There are many dangers that come with choosing to stream content illegally, whether that be through a dodgy Fire TV Stick device or especially created websites.
Using these services can potentially expose a household to vicious malware and inappropriate content. On top of this, many of these devices can often fund criminal gangs.
While it is highly unlikely that anyone using the illegal stream will ever face jail time for their actions, it may be worth considering the added risks that come with it.