Tyrone GAA hit out: Sport subscription services constantly battle against the interception of their streams through the illegal use of firesticks, apps and other streaming facilities.
Tyrone GAA believe organised crime gangs are behind a pirating operation that has reduced revenue from their live streaming services.
Tyrone GAA hit out information and technology officer Gerard Bradley has claimed the county has been particularly targeted by those individuals and organisations behind the offences.
“The reduction in subscriptions has been clearly identified as being almost entirely due to the activities of organised criminal gangs, with local providers who use modified Firesticks and Apps to pirate Live Streams,” Bradley will tell tonight’s county convention.
“The live stream of this year’s championship attracted 15,500 subscriptions from almost 7,000 customers.
“These figures show a significant reduction on the 2022 figures.
“While Tyrone has been particularly targeted by this criminal activity, all other units including the GAA at central level and other sports are also victims.
“The attendance at matches continued to exceed the number of live stream tickets sold.”
Tyrone were the only county to live stream every single club championship match this year.
Fifty games were covered throughout senior, intermediate and junior level.
“MacAV, a local company continues to deliver excellent video and production for all our Live Streaming that makes the quality of our product, a market leader,” said Bradley.
A clampdown on illegal TV streaming services, known as ‘dodgy boxes’, has occurred in recent months.
A wave of legal warnings have been delivered in person, by post and by e-mail to people across Ireland involved in providing illegal access to premium TV content.
Other sporting subscriptions on a more national level, such as GAAGO and LOI TV, continue to battle against illegal use of their products which is reducing revenues to make them profitable and in some cases viable.
GAA president Larry McCarthy has described piracy devices as “the enemy” of GAAGO, while another official Noel Quinn said it is an ongoing “war” against their use.
The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) has been working with broadcasters and law enforcement on this latest clampdown on illegal Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) providers.
“Illegal IPTV service providers are breaking the law and putting consumers at real risk of malware, data loss and identity theft,” said Kieron Sharp, CEO of FACT, which is funded by a number of TV providers.
“Consumers who pay for pirate services should also know that they are often funding serious organised crime groups,” Sharp said.
“FACT and partners remain committed to disrupting these criminal operations and protecting consumers,” he added.
A 2019 report estimated there are more than 170,000 ‘dodgy boxes’ in Ireland and the country is the sixth highest user of the devices in the European Union.
It is feared that number has grown greatly in the last 4 years.
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