Licensees of North London pub hit with £12k fine for illegally showing Sky Sports
Designated premises supervisor Dominic Murphy and manager James Doyle, of the Auld Triangle in Finsbury Park, were convicted on 18 August at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court.
They were each found guilty in absence of two offences of dishonest reception of a televised transmission without a commercial viewing agreement with the intent to avoid payment of the applicable charge.
Murphy and Doyle were ordered to pay a combined total of £12,015 in fines and costs following the successful prosecution by the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).
FACT prosecuting manager Stephen Gerrard said: “Our aim is to help create an effective deterrent to publicans who endeavour to fraudulently show Sky content in their premises. People found to be showing Sky in commercial premises without having entered into the correct commercial subscription agreement with Sky face criminal prosecution, costs and potential loss of their licence.”
Alison Dolan, deputy managing director at Sky Business, said: “This case reinforces the message that licensees will face legal action when using any system that allows access to matches to which Sky has exclusive rights in the UK without a commercial viewing agreement. Sky’s on-going support for FACT in prosecuting licensees who break the law is part of our unwavering commitment to protect the thousands of law-abiding pubs who pay for legitimate commercial Sky subscriptions.”
There have been more than 1,500 similar prosecutions to date and hundreds of further cases are in the pipeline.
