Sky under fire from all sides
Licensees, pubcos and politicians alike lambasted satellite operator Sky at a heated public meeting in Westminster last night.
They accused Sky of abusing its position as the sole broadcaster of Premiership football by increasing prices to unfair levels and showing no respect to its customers.
Stuart Neame, from Kent brewer Shepherd Neame, said at the meeting: "We are going to be quite aggressive with Sky and get rid of it from most of our 70 managed pubs.
"But I feel that Sky is wholly unbothered by this. I think it wants this to happen and force the people who will miss out on football in the pub to be domestic subscribers."
The meeting, called by the Federation of Licensed Victuallers' Associations (FLVA) and the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group (APPBG), featured speeches made by Tony Payne, chief executive of the FLVA, John Grogan, chairman of the APPBG, Dr Rogan Taylor, director of the Football Industries Group at Liverpool University School of Management, and Vince Healy, managing director of pubco Ascot Inns.
In the presence of two representatives from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), all the MPs and licensees in attendance were urged to lobby the OFT to reopen its investigation into Sky.
The OFT closed an investigation into Sky's alleged monopoly of football broadcasting last year, ruling there was insufficient evidence to suggest that Sky was acting anti-competitively. Cable operators NTL, Telewest and ITV Digital had accused Sky of breaching competition law.
Since the investigation Sky has imposed an increase of up to 22 per cent on its subscription rates and a rise of 100 per cent on its season ticket, which has outraged licensees across the UK.
Using data from previous Publican Market Reports, Mr Healy showed that the average price for a pint of beer had risen from £1.72 in 1996 to £2.11 in 2003. He calculated that if Sky's price hike was applied to the price of a pint, pub-goers would now be paying an average of £5.83.
Mr Healy, speaking on behalf of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, accused the satellite operator of acting in a bullying and disrespectful way to its pub customers.
He said: "In my business I deal with a whole range of supplier companies and, apart from Sky, I cannot think of one where I would have a problem speaking to senior executives.
"Sky executives are unique in that the higher up the chain one goes, you experience a greater level of arrogance and less interest in you as a customer."
Sky declined to comment on the meeting.
Grogan calls for MP backing
John Grogan, the chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group, has urged licensees to write to their MPs to push them to sign Martyn Jones's early day motion (EDM), in which he criticised Sky's decision to raise its subscription fees and called on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to reopen its investigation.
He said: "If we can get over 100 MPs to sign it then it starts to get noticed in Parliament. The only way that will happen is if licensees start writing to their MPs about the EDM. It will make a big difference."
Forty-six MPs have signed Mr Jones's EDM, including Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party in the House of Commons and Menzies Campbell, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats.
The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) and the Federation of Licensed Victuallers' Associations have made a joint effort to lobby MPs on this matter.
Rob Hayward, chief executive of the BBPA, said: "We really seem to have struck a chord. Not only have 61 MPs written to the OFT but there is an active band of about 30 MPs who, without being asked, have written to Sky and to relevant government departments, lobbying ministers like Patricia Hewitt and Tessa Jowell."
