Sky has made a strong criticism of Amazon, saying the tech firm must take more decisive action to clamp down on the growing “crisis” of sports piracy facilitated by illegal IPTV services.

According to Sky, such illegal streaming services—most of which use hacked Fire TV Sticks as a delivery platform—are costing broadcasters “hundreds of millions of dollars.”.

In a step that may upsets many innocent Fire TV users, Sky is strongly urging Amazon to limit the ability of sideloading apps directly onto streaming devices. Though sideloading allows for legal customization along with the ability to carry out illegal streaming, Sky considers it as likely one of the largest facilitators of piracy.

Addressing the FT Business of Football Summit, Sky Chief Operating Officer Nick Herm did not mince his words, saying Amazon’s Fire TV Sticks are responsible for “probably about half of the piracy” of Premier League football in the UK alone.

“If you speak to friends and colleagues, you watch football, people will know that you can get jail-broken Fire Sticks, and you can access pirated services on Fire Sticks,” Herm said to the audience.

Sky executives say the problem is now so widespread that Fire TV devices have become synonymous with illegal streaming in certain circles.

They even claim that football fans have begun chanting “we’ve got our Fire Sticks” at matches, with Herm adding: “There are football fans who literally have shirts printed out that say Fire Sticks on them.”

The most controversial section of Sky’s requirements is their suggested fix. Herm directly urged Amazon to “ock down or impose controls and restrictions on sideloading unofficial apps.

This ask is significant since sideloading is a highly appreciated feature among legitimate Fire TV users for being able to install useful apps that are not present in Amazon’s official store—without resorting to piracy.

Herm bashed Amazon’s attitude towards the problem so far and stated, “With some of the tech giants, Amazon in particular, we do not get enough engagement to address some of those problems, where people are buying these devices in bulk.”

Amazon fired back in its defense and stated that it will persist in doing what it does best in terms of “providing customers with a high-quality streaming experience while actively promoting a streaming landscape that respects intellectual property rights.”.

The company highlighted its role as a co-founder of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), which works to dismantle global piracy networks.

Amazon also reiterated its policies against selling illegal streaming devices and infringing apps, stating: “On Fire TV, we’ve always encouraged our customers to use legal channels for accessing content and have included on-device warnings informing customers of the risks associated with installing or using apps from unknown sources,”