Firesticks: what is the law around ‘jailbroken’ Amazon sticks, and do you need a TV licence?

• Firestick warning as man is jailed over ‘jailbroken’ devices. 
• Watching illegal streams on dodgy sticks could lead to prosecution. 
• Owners of Firesticks are also reminded of the scenario they would need a licence fee. 

A man has been jailed for more than three years for selling ‘jailbroken’ Firesticks. He has also been sentenced for watching illegal streams on the devices. 

Jonathan Edge, of Liverpool, was selling the dodgy sticks for cash-in-hand, advertising them on Facebook, the Premier League said in a statement. The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to three offences under the Fraud Act and was sentenced on Tuesday November 12 at Liverpool Crown Court. 

The Premier League has stated its intentions to continue to crack down on ‘jailbroken’ Firesticks. But what exactly are they and how could you fall foul of the law? 

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How your Firestick could be breaking the law

The price of watching football continues to add up more and more each year. If you want to watch Premier League and European football, you will need subscriptions for not only Sky Sports but also TNT Sport and Amazon Prime. 

Due to the skyrocketing price of following football, you may have been tempted to try and get your hands on a jailbroken Firestick (or similar streaming stick). But if you are caught watching “illegal streams” you could risk major legal troubles. 

Edge, of Anfield Road, has been jailed for three years and four months after admitting to loading illicit streaming services onto so-called “Firesticks”. His prison term includes a separate concurrent sentence of two years and three months for accessing and viewing the content he was supplying. 

Relying on advertising through Facebook posts and word-of-mouth recommendations, Edge ran a service uploading illegal services onto Firestick devices in return for cash-in-hand payments at his home. His own use of the unauthorised service was treated as a distinct crime in itself. He ignored multiple warnings to stop this activity, which was referenced by the judge and treated as an aggravating factor towards the sentence passed.

Kevin Plumb, Premier League General Counsel, said: “The significant sentence handed down to the individual involved once again serves to highlight the severity of his actions and we thank Merseyside Police for their support throughout the case. We will continue to pursue legal action against those supplying unauthorised access to Premier League football, regardless of the scale or mode of operation. Ignoring warnings to stop only served to make the consequences worse for the individual. ” 

What is a jailbroken Firestick? 

You might have seen a ‘jailbroken’ Firestick being advertised on Facebook and wondered what that actually means. It is a phrase that has been around for a while and ‘jailbreaking’ means to bypass the restrictions placed on a device by the makers - in this case Amazon - to install software and features that were not supposed to be on it. 

For example, you could get a PlayStation 1 ‘jailbroken’ in order to play pirated video games - although that ran the risk of damaging the console. Popular title Spyro had an anti-piracy measure that would make playing the game increasingly difficult if it detected you were playing a pirated copy. 

Do you need a TV licence for a Firestick? 

If you are just planning on watching Amazon Prime Video or other streaming services on your Firestick, you most likely will not need a TV licence. Under the current rules, if you are only watching programmes on catch-up or on demand services - like Netflix - then you don’t need to pay the licence fee, except for BBC iPlayer. 

However if you are wanting to watch anything live on your Firestick - for example to watch Premier League football in December - then you must have a TV licence. If you are caught watching live TV (even if it is on streaming services like Prime Video, Netflix, ITVX) without paying the licence fee you could face a fine of as much as £1,000. 

Find out more about Labour’s plans for the future of TV licence prosecutions and how much the fee could rise next year. Share your thoughts by emailing me: [email protected].