TV soccer is now so expensive... a crackdown on ‘dodgy boxes’ will surely make it cheaper for all

A NEW English Premier League season kicks off this weekend - instantly conjuring up images of wild extravagance, unfettered excess, and eye-watering sums of money.

And that’s just the fans like me who pay for the privilege of watching it from our armchairs...

Yes, the bill for following our teams and watching all the drama of ‘the greatest league in the world’ (copyright, every pundit) unfold every season seems to just get higher and higher.

Of course, the subscription channels offer much more than Premier League soccer, if you’re into golf, rugby, Formula 1, or any number of other sports shown on platforms like Sky.

But there’s no doubt that the Premier League is the jewel in the crown of TV rights.

Hence, when Sky - which has owned the main rights to matches since 1992 - recently inked a new deal with the Premier League to run from the 2024-25 season to the 2028-29 season, it represented a 50% increase on the last agreement - almost nudging a cool billion pounds sterling.

Sky will be confident of making that money back through subscribers like me.

But, at a time of a cost-of-living crisis and a fuel price crisis, the monthly sums to see the likes of Erling Haaland and Mo Salah strut their stuff are only going to make potential viewers assess their options.

‘The greatest show on earth’, as the brand new billboard poster for Sky proclaims, appears to be almost costing the earth.

There are always deals to be had for TV subscriptions, many of them lasting a few months to lure you in, but the general price for a Sky Sports subscription is around the €20-40 mark per month. Spread out over the nine months of the season, that is a considerable outlay.

I recently did a deal through Now TV to get Sky Sports for €19.99 a month for three months - but, in October, that becomes a rather hefty €39.99.

And that is only the half of it. The newly-branded TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) have the rights to show 52 live Premier League games per season. They also show all live Champions League games; tempting, huh, especially when Irish terrestrial channels which also have rights don’t always show your team.

You might be talking another €20-35 per month for that subscription. My current offer through Now TV for this is €33.99 a month, which I am really dithering about paying.

Some of these broadcasters offer a day sports pass option for around a tenner or so a month, for those who want to select just a few ‘Super Sundays’ a year.

By the time you factor in the streaming service Amazon Prime, which has the rights to show 20 Premier League games a season, armchair fans are left with a sizeable hole in their finances.

Clearly, soccer fans like me have some decisions to make as the new Premier League season kicks off.

However, there is an elephant in some living rooms, in the shape of the so-called ‘dodgy box’.

You may have heard of these TV devices, and you may even think the name suggests that they occupy some middle ground that means they are not quite illegal -merely a bit iffy.

That’s not the case. ‘Dodgy boxes’ are most certainly illegal, and are one reason why law-abiding people like me are forking out more for our TV soccer fix.

These boxes stream access to premium TV channels, including sporting events, at a vastly reduced price. Essentially, you could argue that people like me are subsidising the viewing of those who own them.

Little wonder, then, that the broadcasting companies are anxious to discourage this black market that has sprung up, and prevent their potential customers from adapting the ‘If you can’t beat em, join ’em’ mentality.

A few months ago, it was announced that several arrests had been made in England in connection with alleged illegal streaming, and that sellers of these boxes in 12 counties across Ireland - including Cork - could expect a similar crackdown.

Shortly after, a man in Dublin was sentenced to 240 hours of community service for selling 150 ‘dodgy boxes’, with the judge warning him he was close to receiving a custodial sentence.

It is not known how many such illegal TV streaming devices are currently in use in Ireland, but I would hazard a guess we are talking in the many thousands. 

Experts certainly believe they are more common here than elsewhere in Europe.

Any crackdown is likely to target those selling these boxes, rather than their customers, but if word gets out about the trade being targeted, it might lead to a good few people deciding to opt out of the service.

“Illegal service providers are a significant problem in Ireland,” Kieron Sharp, CEO of the Federation Against Copyright Theft, told a newspaper recently.

“This is criminal activity, and those involved are not concerned about the risks their streams pose to consumers.”

The problem is that buying and selling a ‘dodgy box’ is viewed by some as a victimless crime. It’s an attitude summed up by Eddy Levitan, of the UK’s Federation Against Copyright Theft group.

“When you talk about them as being ‘dodgy boxes’, it can sound a bit like the kind of ‘cheeky chappie’ - it’s a bit like Only Fools And Horses,” he said. “Something you can get away with and you’re getting a fast one over on somebody... when actually it is illegal activity, it is criminal.

“There are organised criminal gangs who are involved in the importation and the supply and the procurement of the services.

“So you’re giving money to criminals and you’re funding criminal activity.”

It will be interesting to see if this nudge-nudge, wink-wink illicit trade is affected by the proposed crackdown.

If so, those of us who pay through the nose for our TV sports will certainly be hoping to reap the rewards of it in falling subscriptions.