Welsh First Minister backs Sky prices petition

Assembly member for North Wales, Llyr Gruffydd, launched the petition last month after asking publicans what their main business concerns were.

He wants Sky to amend its prices to more accurately reflect the business rate relief enjoyed by Welsh pubs, instead of charging them on their rateable value.

Gruffydd told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser that the coverage given to the petition has seen it attract hundreds of signatures from other parts of Wales, as well as the support of the First Minister, Carwyn Jones. An online version of the petition has also been set up.

“The campaign has really started to gather momentum. Coverage has taken it beyond North Wales with publicans from Pembrokeshire, Aberdare and Newport getting in touch,” said Gruffydd.

“Locally, I’ve visited many pubs that are struggling to pay or have not been able to afford the cost.

“The next step is to organise a meeting with Sky to show the strength of feeling, so the more people that
sign the online petition the better it reflects the widespread feeling that Sky has a monopoly on televised live sports and is making enormous profits. Sky TV made £100m every month according to its last statistics.”

Responding to Gruffydd’s question in the assembly on the petition, First Minister Jones said: “I would be happy enough to support anything that would lower the payments that pubs have to make to Sky.

“Ensuring that pubs can receive services such as Sky for an affordable amount is extremely important to ensuring their sustainability for the future.”

A spokesperson for Sky said: “By investing in thousands of hours of high quality live sport, Sky can help pubs attract customers.

“As a result, we ask that pubs pay a price that reflects the value of Sky to their
businesses. That said, we recognise that many of our customers are facing difficult times and we’ve frozen our underlying subscription prices several times over recent years.”

The petition can be signed at http://bit.ly/JbZ9pB​