A Birmingham licensee has been stripped of his personal licence and slapped with a £6,000 fine for illegally showing Sky using a domestic card.
Yadvinder Singh of The Brighton Arms, Small Heath was convicted of three offences of dishonest reception of a television transmission, contrary to Section 297 (1) of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
As well as losing his licence Singh was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £809.74 plus a £15 victim surcharge.
The Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) has carried out 900 similar prosecutions to date, including 200 last season, and have a further 100 pending.
"The loss of a personal license is the ultimate sanction the court can hand down in cases such as this, meaning that the person effectively loses their livelihood," said Fact prosecution manager Stephen Gerrard.
"Along with a sizeable fine, this is a landmark sentence and shows the increased effectiveness of our policy of seeking out those who are committing such criminal offences."
A spokesperson for Sky said: "This case demonstrates how seriously the courts take this issue as the penalties for illegally showing Sky exclusive programming become more severe.
"We remain committed to working with Fact to prosecute licensees who break the law in order to protect the interests of our legitimate customers."