Dodgy boxes are costing League of Ireland clubs – piracy is robbing LOITV half of possible streaming revenue

The Irish Sun

11-07-2025

ANYONE watching the Club World Cup — you can admit it, this is a safe space — on DAZN has seen the anti-piracy code regularly appear on screen.
2
LOITV is the League of Ireland's streaming platform
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
2
League of Ireland director Mark Scanlon
Credit: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
When the kleptomaniacs are stealing free-to-air content for the dodgy boxes, it just confirms that theft is normalised.
An
fire
sticks in
Ireland
.
And
An internet poll comes with an asterisk about sampling, but when the
FAI
know the majority of LOITV subscribers are males between the ages of 21 and 35, it should be representative.
Anecdotally, it also seems accurate. A few club officials have told me piracy is so widespread that on the rare occasions official streams crash, fans tweet them the illegal one.
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And all that is costing League of Ireland clubs
money
.
Scanlon said LOITV took in €835,000 in revenue last year when all the evidence points to that being half what they could expect without dodgy boxes.
And that means
running
a public service on a shoestring that puts the actual public service broadcaster to shame.
LOITV shows 550 games a year with the vast majority being loss makers.
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Scanlon's appearance before the Oireachtas Committee — he was in to lobby for LOITV to be exempt from the proposed streaming levy — gave us some details.
While he avoided giving figures until he mentioned the total revenue, he happily spoke in percentages, which gave a greater understanding of LOITV.
League of Ireland mascots compete in charity race in Naas
And it made it clear the service is profitable, has plenty of room for growth and provides coverage that would be impossible otherwise.
For instance, the big revenue stream is the Premier Division with 91 per cent of subscribers last year being fans of top-flight clubs.
But 63 per cent of games on the platform are in the Men's First Division and Women's Premier Division, which account for just nine per cent of revenue.
The men's top-tier clubs do earn slightly more from LOITV than the First Division and Women's Premier Division clubs, but it is all relatively small.
That €835,000 revenue had to cover costs with 60 per cent going on production — Premier Division games are more expensive to produce as they have more cameras — and streaming.
The remaining 40 per cent, around €334,000, goes to the clubs. The FAI takes nothing.
Last year, those profits from streaming were around a third of the amount taken in from traditional broadcasters RTÉ, TG4 and Virgin Media.
But sources indicate the figure continues to track upwards on the back of
savings
made by partnering with Premier Sports and increased subscription numbers.
The FAI keep those figures secret for commercial reasons, but you can estimate based on the total revenue.
And I understand subscriptions are around 30 per cent higher this year after the season pass price was lowered from €120 to €99 last year.
There is room for growth with 80 per cent of viewers being in Ireland, with access remaining an area that is being pushed.
This year saw the platform made available on more apps after complaints in the past, but it was suggested in Leinster House that being on common platforms like
Sky
could boost subscribers.
But while the push is about legal avenues to watch LOITV, the elephant in the room remains the dodgy box.