Dodgy Boxes revisited | The crackdown, the sellers, and could you get fined? 📺
episodePreviously titled “Dodgy Boxes revisited | The crackdown, the sellers & why you might get fined” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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What are dodgy boxes and their implications?
This is an Irish independent podcast. You're using a dodgy box, you're going to go to prison. Now I have your attention. I don't know if that's true, but it bloody should be. Ronan Mullan, hello. Hi, Joe. Will Slattery, hello to you. Hello, Joe. We're going to talk to Adrian Weckler today about dodgy boxes. He was on Primetime last night, actually, talking about this. One million visits from Ireland every day are being made to websites offering pirated TV, film and sport. So a million times a day. And I guess where is all this going to go? He thinks, I mean, we haven't spoken to him yet, but 2026 may be the year. This has been long kind of heralded. It's coming.
How is Ireland addressing the issue of dodgy boxes?
It's coming. 2026 may be the year some kind of action is taken. Now, obviously, I don't think anyone's going to jail for subscribing or using the service, whatever about the providers. But like in Italy, they've tweaked laws so that You're getting like a fine in the post now if you're caught, you know? So kind of a penalty points thing you get. I don't know how much the fines are necessarily. Adrian can fill us in. But fines in the post are kind of becoming a thing. And Greece, Belgium, Portugal also looking at that. Because, you know, if they do a raid and they find Will Slattery is providing dodgy box services, then they will have access to his subscriber list and then fines go out in the post. So that's one kind of beginning of all this.
So I feel like I should say I don't have a dodgy box. Just in case any of the questions I subsequently ask Adrian Weckler sound like... Implicating. Just asking for a friend. A question from a listener. Yeah. So one million a day from Ireland being made to websites. It's always hard to get a hold on how many households, but they reckon somewhere between 200,000 and 400,000 households. Because there was a poll in the Sunday Independent where one of the questions was, do you have a dodgy box? And I think 14% of people said yes, and another 10% said they would prefer not to answer.
Yeah.
there's no stigma attached to it like in society it's one of those funny things if you did like an XY axis of like a crime being committed technically but what people think of it like you know it would pretty illustrate that I don't think anyone consider no one would think any less of you I don't think if you were in a conversation at a dinner party one of those dinner parties you aspire to host that you've mentioned before kind of you know entertaining people maybe you play the piano in a couple years time and the topic of dodgy boxes come up and if someone said oh I have one I don't think people would be like get out get out no
But even the piece in the Telegraph today or this week was, to your point there, that socially acceptable, they think it is. Like, not even that there's a stigma, but this is normal. If someone told me they were selling them... That's a different story.
That would be different, but... Would I ask them to leave my dinner party? I don't know. It's hard to know how I'd feel if someone was kind of some sort of dodgy box kingpin. But it wouldn't be considered the same as if they were saying, oh, I go around stealing cars.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What fines are being introduced across Europe for dodgy box users?
It's seen as a harmless, victimless crime.
Those people are already making so much money, etc. Whether it should be viewed as that is another thing, but it seems to be. Yeah, there was a survey in the UK and 66% of people said there should be no fine, no punishment for anyone who's using a dodgy box. So you're right, it's not really seen as a crime. So, you know, it's... Interesting. Of people using a dodgy box, I had thought that sport would be the big driver. And I was surprised to see in these figures provided by Muso. Muso are a content protection firm. The EU used them. They gave the figures to RTE. So of all these many, many visits you're all making out there, sport only accounts for a mere 12%. The big driver is TV and film with 71%. The most stolen movie.
Sounds like a crime to me.
The most stolen movie of 2025 was Sinners with Michael B. Jordan.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are dodgy boxes and their implications?
0:01–0:43
2
How is Ireland addressing the issue of dodgy boxes?
0:43–3:04
3
What fines are being introduced across Europe for dodgy box users?
3:04–4:44
4
What is the public perception of dodgy boxes in Ireland?
4:44–5:43
5
How do dodgy boxes affect content providers and broadcasters?
5:43–10:25
6
What are the statistics on dodgy box usage in Ireland?
10:25–16:08
7
What changes in legislation could impact dodgy box users?
16:08–23:56
8
What future developments can we expect regarding dodgy boxes?
23:56–41:58
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Indo Sport
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