Licensees ordered to pay record £22k for illegal football screening

28-Aug-2014 - Last updated on 29-Aug-2014 at 08:53 GMT

The cost to licensees of illegal football screenings now stands at almost £70,000 for this season alone

A record fine has brought the total cost to licensees of illegally showing Sky Sports to almost £70,000 so far this season.

In the latest case the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) secured £22,600 in fines and costs from the licensees of Hogan’s bar in Doncaster. It is the eleventh prosecution by FACT this season, in which publicans have been ordered to pay £68,765.

At Doncaster Magistrates’ Court on 22 August Simon Barnett and Anthony Ball of Hogan’s Bar alongside Doncaster Balls Limited, were found guilty in their absence of dishonest reception of a television transmission (a Sky televised football match) without a commercial viewing agreement with the intent to avoid payment of the applicable charge, contrary to Section 297 (1) of the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988

There have been more than 1,500 similar prosecutions to date, hundreds of further cases are in the pipeline and each conviction can result in criminal prosecution, substantial costs and potential loss of licence.

Risks

Stephen Gerrard, prosecuting manager of FACT, said: “We sometimes hear from licensees that they are prepared to risk a fine of around £5,000 for showing Sky Sports illegally, but this case shows that both licensees, employees and associated companies can each face fines of up to £5,000 for every offence they commit, or each match that they show. On top of this, the court can order legal costs to be paid and there is a requirement to inform the local licensing authority of the criminal offence, which can impact their licenses - it simply isn’t worth the risk.”

Alison Dolan, deputy managing director of Sky Business, said: “This issue is very close to the hearts of our legitimate Sky pub customers who are being left short-changed by licensees broadcasting Sky content illegally. It creates an uneven playing field for their businesses, which is why we are committed to visiting thousands of pubs this season, as well as investigating suppliers and continuing to support FACT’s work.”

Any licensee affected by these issues can report suspected illegal broadcasting in confidence at business.sky.com/fighting-fraud