Four licensees convicted for illegal Sky use
The licensees of the Hark to Towler in Heywood, Greater Manchester, Jimmy O’s in Liverpool, as well as the Gold Coast and the Melbourne Arms, both in South London, have been convicted and fined a total of more than £15,000 for illegal Sky use.
These convictions are four of a total of 17 successful prosecutions brought by The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) this football season alone, bringing total fines and costs paid by licensees across the UK to more than £88,000.
Risks
Stephen Gerrard, prosecuting manager at FACT, said: “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.
“It simply isn’t worth the risk when 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. This is starkly demonstrated by a conviction involving a pub in Doncaster last month, where total fines and costs amounted to more than £22,600.”
Sky said it is committed to visiting every licensed premise reported by other publicans and/or organisations for illegally showing Sky. In total, Sky has made arrangements to visit more than 700 pubs each week in towns and cities across the UK this season.
Alison Dolan, deputy managing director at Sky Business, said: “It’s important to us to protect the investment that thousands of hardworking licensees make in Sky Sports to drive value for their businesses, which is why we work closely with FACT to identify and act on unauthorised use.”
Licensees can report suspected illegal broadcasting in confidence via Sky's Fighting Fraud website.
