More people in the UK are risking fines of £800 fines when streaming, are YOU at risk?

Free streams of boxsets you’d typically find on paid-for services such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ are becoming more popular in the UK. A new study has revealed a huge spike in the amount of people turning to free, illicit streams across the UK, with the country now ranked in the top three countries worldwide that streamed the most television content illegally. With so many people risking huge fines, it’s worth looking at the consequences of watching content for free. Anyone who is caught streaming for free could risk a fine of £800 in the UK.

Fines of £800 were issued last year when subscribers of Virgin Media received a letter in the post from lawyers demanding money. These notices were sent out to hundreds of people that allegedly watched Hollywood movie Ava – which was available to stream exclusively on Netflix – online for free using illicit websites.

Those impacted were warned also that if they tried to fight these fines in the court they could end up paying even more money. This news, which Express.co.uk reported on last year, may make the increasing amount of people in the UK turning to illegal streams sit up and notice.

A new study from MUSO has revealed in the first four months of 2022 there was an estimated 33.6billion visits to piracy websites for TV content.

The US and Russia were the two biggest offenders but this year the third ranked region was the UK. This was a big jump from the study conducted in 2021 where the UK was ranked in sixth place.

Speaking about its findings, MUSO said: “It is interesting to note that demand from the UK has grown year on year, with the UK now ranked third in the list of consumption by country, compared to sixth during the same period in 2021.”

The research from the piracy tracking firm, which TorrentFreak reported on, also revealed boxsets that were in high demand amongst illegal streamers.

In the UK one of the most popular boxsets accessed illegally was the sixth season of BBC hit Peaky Blinders. Other popular shows people accessed illegally this year include Euphoria, The Book of Boba Fett and Peacemaker.

If you’re not aware already, watching copyrighted content – such as movies or boxsets – for free via an unauthorised streaming or torrent site is illegal, no questions about it.

Not only that but there are other risks associated with piracy websites including being infected with malware and identify fraud.

While anyone that turns to illegal IPTV services could end up exposing children in their household to harmful content such as violent movies, shows or pornography.

IPTV stands for internet protocol TV, which essentially means TV content is delivered over an internet connection. While there are legitimate IPTV services available such as Sky’s NOW app, invariably IPTV products illegally offer access to content found on Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video along with live sports matches for a price that’s far cheaper than paying for all of this legitimately.

Speaking previously about the dangers of turning to illegal piracy portals, Kieron Sharp – the CEO of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) – said: “Consumers should be aware that piracy originates from sophisticated, unlawful enterprises, putting money directly in the pockets of criminal gangs. This is not a grey area – viewing boxing through the official providers is the only way to watch the fight legally and avoid putting yourself at risk.”