Goodbye, free IPTV? Amazon permanently blocks pirated apps on Fire TV Stick

For years, Amazon Fire TV Sticks have embodied a gaping fault in the streaming industry. These small HDMI keys for less than fifty euros allowed, with a few rudimentary manipulations, access to thousands of paid channels and catalogs for a fraction of their real price. This technical complacency has just ended. Amazon is now systematically blocking pirate applications, marking a radical turning point in its policy.

Amazon blocks IPTV apps on Fire TV Stick

The change revolves around two complementary axes. First, a partnership with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, a coalition bringing together around thirty major entertainment companies including Disney, Netflix and HBO, created in 2017. This organization maintains a blacklist of applications broadcasting pirated content.

When an app listed there is detected on a Fire TV device, a blocking process is automatically triggered. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed this new policy, specifying that “piracy is illegal” and that the company “always worked to block it”. This measure even applies to software installed manually via sideloading, a technique previously tolerated.

The second part concerns the new Fire TV Stick 4K Selectthe first device equipped with Vega OS. Unlike Android-based Fire OS, this proprietary system operates in a closed loop, making it theoretically impossible to install unapproved software. A model reminiscent of Apple’s locked ecosystem.

This offensive responds to growing pressure from broadcasters since last February, Nick Herm, Sky’s director of operations, publicly accused Amazon during the Financial Times Business of Football conference. “If you talk to your friends and colleagues, people know that you can get unlocked Fire Sticks and access pirated services”he declared, believing that these devices represented “about half” of hacking of the Premier League in the United Kingdom and cost the industry “hundreds of millions of dollars”.

Amazon specifies, however, that the installation of legitimate applications via sideloading remains possible, the measures being limited to identified pirate applications.

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