Amazon has just released a new streaming stick that does something rather remarkable: it makes illegal IPTV streaming significantly more difficult.
Whether that was the intention or simply a fortunate side-effect is up for debate, but the timing is certainly interesting.
For months, Sky has been publicly demanding that Amazon restrict sideloading on Fire TV devices, claiming modified Firesticks account for about half of all Premier League piracy in the UK.
The Premier League itself has been pushing hard on this issue, along with other broadcasters (such as TNT Sports) who’ve watched billions in licensing fees undermined by illegal streaming.
And now, Amazon has released the Fire TV Stick 4K Select – the first streaming stick running its new Vega operating system that, by design, cannot run the sideloaded Android apps that have powered the illegal IPTV industry for years.
What Makes Vega OS Different?
The Fire TV Stick 4K Select, which launched last week at £49.99, represents Amazon’s first major departure from Android in over a decade of Fire TV devices.
Every previous Fire TV stick ran Fire OS, which was based on Android. Vega OS is built on Linux instead – a completely different foundation.
This isn’t just a software update. It’s a fundamental change that means every single app needs to be completely rewritten from scratch to work on Vega OS devices.
More importantly for the illegal streaming world, it means all those modified Android apps that powered “dodgy Firesticks” simply won’t work anymore.
Vega OS apps are built completely differently from Android apps – they’re not compatible at all.
Amazon has also confirmed that “For enhanced security, only apps from the Amazon Appstore on Fire TV are available for download” on Vega OS devices.
So unlike the Android-based Fire TV Sticks, there’s no option to install apps from outside Amazon’s official store.
There is a developer mode, as AFTVnews reports, that technically allows some app installation, but it requires the device to reboot each time it’s enabled – making it far too impractical for the kind of everyday use that illegal IPTV services rely on.
Essentially, Amazon has created a streaming stick that works remarkably like a Roku – a closed ecosystem where only approved apps can run.
The ‘Dodgy Firestick’ Problem
To understand why this matters, you need to understand what a “dodgy Firestick” actually is – and why they’ve become such a massive problem for broadcasters.
Amazon’s Fire TV Stick is a perfectly legal streaming device. Millions of people use them daily to watch Netflix, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, and other legitimate services without any issues whatsoever.
The problem started because Fire TV devices, being based on Android, are relatively open. They allow users to install apps from outside Amazon’s official App Store through a process called “sideloading.”
Sideloading itself isn’t illegal – many people use it for perfectly legitimate purposes, like installing apps that Amazon doesn’t offer in the UK, or using alternative media players.
But this openness also made Fire TV Sticks the perfect delivery mechanism for illegal IPTV services.
How Illegal IPTV Actually Works
IPTV simply stands for Internet Protocol Television – it’s the technology that delivers TV content over the internet rather than through traditional broadcast methods.
Netflix is IPTV. BBC iPlayer is IPTV. Disney+ is IPTV. They’re all perfectly legal because they pay licensing fees to content creators.
The problem comes with unauthorised IPTV services that offer premium content at suspiciously low prices or even for free, without paying any of those licensing fees.
Here’s how the “dodgy Firestick” model typically worked:
Sellers would buy normal Fire TV Sticks, then modify them by installing unauthorised apps that provided access to premium content.
These “fully loaded” Firesticks would then be sold on Facebook Marketplace, through social media, or even in person at car boot sales and pubs.
Customers would pay anywhere from £30 to £100 for a modified Firestick, often with a 12-month subscription to an illegal IPTV service already included.
These services promised access to everything – Premier League matches, Sky Sports, TNT Sports, movies still in cinemas, the lot – all for a fraction of what legitimate subscriptions would cost.
The sellers made thousands. The customers thought they were getting a bargain. And broadcasters lost millions in licensing revenue.
Why Fire TV Sticks Became So Popular for IPTV
Fire TV Sticks dominated the illegal streaming market for a few key reasons:
First, they’re cheap. At £39.99 for the basic HD model (and much less when on sale), they’re an affordable starting point for anyone looking to set up an illegal streaming operation.
Second, they’re easy to modify. Unlike Roku devices, which are much more locked down, Fire TV Sticks allow sideloading with just a few simple setting changes. You don’t need to be a tech expert – just follow a YouTube tutorial.
Third, they’re small and portable. Sellers could easily buy them in bulk, modify dozens in an evening, and ship them out through the post.
Fourth – and this is crucial – they’re incredibly popular as legitimate devices. Millions of people own Fire TV Sticks for perfectly legal streaming.
This gave sellers plausible deniability and made the devices less suspicious to casual buyers who might not have realised they were purchasing something illegal.
The Crackdown: Recent UK IPTV Cases
UK authorities have been fighting back hard against illegal IPTV operations, with Fire TV Sticks featuring prominently in many major cases.
The Liverpool Operation
Jonathan Edge, 29, received a three-year and four-month prison sentence for running a Firestick modification operation from his home in Liverpool.
What made this case particularly eye-opening was that Edge received a separate concurrent sentence specifically for watching the illegal streams himself – a warning that even users, not just sellers, can face prison time.
Edge had been charging £30 per modified Firestick, with discounts for bulk purchases, making at least £15,000 from his operation.
The £1 Million Premier League Scheme
Steven Mills, 58, from Shrewsbury, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for operating an illegal streaming service that made £1 million over five years.
His operation used custom apps on Fire TV devices to distribute Premier League matches to over 30,000 subscribers. Mills created tutorial videos to help customers access the illegal streams, showing just how sophisticated these operations had become.
The Mass Crackdown
In July 2024, authorities targeted 40 illegal IPTV operators in a coordinated sweep across the UK, from Essex to Dundee.
The operation led to three significant arrests, with digital devices and modified Firesticks seized from homes in Nottingham, Widnes, and Stockton-on-Tees.
But the battle extended beyond physical raids – over 3,000 online adverts for illegal services vanished from social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X.
The Nationwide Sweep
In September 2024, police and FACT investigators turned up at 30 homes across the UK, from London to North Yorkshire, targeting suspected sellers of modified Firesticks.
A 42-year-old man in Newport was arrested, with multiple digital devices including several Firesticks seized as evidence.
Sky’s Public Campaign Against Amazon
The tension between broadcasters and Amazon had been building for months before the Fire TV Stick 4K Select arrived.
In February 2025, Sky launched a fierce public attack on Amazon, with chief operating officer Nick Herm claiming Fire TV Sticks now account for “probably about half of the piracy” of Premier League football in the UK.
Speaking at the FT Business of Football Summit, Herm didn’t hold back: “If you speak to friends and colleagues, [or] you watch football, people will know that you can get jail-broken Firesticks, and you can access pirated services on Firesticks.”
Sky claimed the situation had become so widespread that football fans at some grounds had started chanting “we’ve got our Fire Sticks” during matches. Some supporters were even wearing shirts with “Fire Sticks” printed on them.
Sky’s specific demand? That Amazon should “lock down or impose controls and restrictions on the use of side-loaded unofficial apps on the devices.”
It was a controversial request because sideloading is a feature many legitimate Fire TV users value highly, allowing them to install useful applications that Amazon doesn’t offer through official channels.
Amazon pushed back at the time, defending its position and highlighting its work with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) to shut down piracy operations.
The Premier League has been equally vocal. Kevin Plumb, Premier League General Counsel, emphasised after the Steven Mills conviction: “We are aware that so-called ‘Firesticks’ are being sold as a means of illegally accessing all kinds of content, and today’s judgment should remove any doubt that it is illegal and treated very seriously by the courts.”
Did Amazon Cave to Pressure?
Amazon hasn’t explicitly stated that Vega OS was created to combat piracy. The company positions it as a more efficient operating system that allows for cheaper devices with better performance.
And there’s truth to that – Vega OS is simpler and requires less powerful hardware than Android-based Fire OS, which is why the Fire TV Stick 4K Select can be sold for £49.99 despite offering 4K streaming.
But the timing is rather convenient, isn’t it?
After months of public pressure from Sky, the Premier League, and other broadcasters, Amazon releases a streaming stick that simply cannot run the sideloaded apps that have powered illegal IPTV for years.
Whether intentional or not, Amazon may have also been growing increasingly uncomfortable with the reputation Fire TV Sticks were developing in some circles.
When your product becomes synonymous with illegal streaming – when people are literally wearing shirts celebrating “Fire Sticks” at football matches – that’s a brand problem.
Amazon sells content through Prime Video. They license Premier League matches and other premium sports. They’re not exactly eager to be seen as enabling piracy of the very content they’re paying millions to distribute legally.
Vega OS gives Amazon a way to address the piracy problem without explicitly admitting that’s what they’re doing.
They can position it as innovation and cost-savings whilst simultaneously making life much more difficult for illegal IPTV operators.
But Will It Actually Work?
Here’s where things get complicated – because Vega OS might not kill illegal IPTV, but it could change how it operates in the UK.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Select only has 1GB of RAM, compared to 2GB in the standard Fire TV Stick 4K. It lacks Dolby Vision, has only Wi-Fi 5 instead of Wi-Fi 6, and comes with the basic Alexa Voice Remote rather than the enhanced version.
For £10 more, you can still buy the Android-based Fire TV Stick 4K with better specs and the ability to sideload apps.
Amazon has explicitly confirmed that existing Fire TV devices will continue running Android-based Fire OS and receiving updates. They’ve even stated they plan to release new Fire TV devices running Android in the future.
So the traditional “dodgy Firestick” model isn’t dead yet – sellers can still buy the Android-based models and modify them as before.
But here’s the thing: Amazon is clearly testing the waters with Vega OS. If it proves successful, there’s every chance they’ll eventually transition the entire Fire TV lineup to the new platform.
The Fire TV Stick 4K Select is the entry-level device – the one most likely to be purchased in bulk by IPTV sellers looking for cheap hardware to modify.
By making this specific device incompatible with sideloaded apps, Amazon has targeted exactly the segment of the market that was being exploited for piracy.
The Workarounds and Limitations
Determined pirates will always find workarounds, of course.
Some illegal IPTV services have already moved to web-based apps that can run in browsers, bypassing the need for sideloaded apps entirely.
Amazon itself has created a stopgap solution for legitimate apps that haven’t been rewritten for Vega OS yet – a cloud streaming service that essentially runs Android apps on remote servers and streams them to Vega devices, as Lowpass discovered.
But this cloud app streaming is specifically for apps Amazon selects, and they’ve confirmed that “games and utility apps” won’t be made available through this system.
The illegal IPTV apps that powered dodgy Firesticks certainly won’t be getting Amazon’s cloud streaming support.
And let’s be honest – there will always be other cheap Android devices available for illegal streaming. Android TV boxes, tablets, even mobile phones can run the same illegal apps.
But none of them have the brand recognition, ease of use, or widespread availability of the Amazon Fire TV Stick.
The Bottom Line
The launch of Vega OS might well be remembered as the moment Amazon finally took decisive action against the illegal IPTV problem – even if they won’t explicitly say so.
For IPTV sellers, this represents a significant headache down the line. For users of illegal IPTV services, the message is becoming increasingly clear: this isn’t the victimless crime many thought it was.
Whether Vega OS ultimately kills the “dodgy Firestick” phenomenon remains to be seen. But combined with aggressive legal enforcement and mounting public pressure on tech companies, it’s certainly the biggest technical barrier yet – and that might be exactly what Sky, the Premier League, and perhaps even Amazon were hoping for all along.
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