Licensees hit with huge fine for illegal Sky Sports coverage

Joseph and Catherine McLaughlin of the Domino Inn, Corby, Northamptonshire were each convicted in their absence of three offences of dishonest reception of a television transmission (a Sky televised football match) at the pub with the intent to avoid payment of the applicable charge.

In addition to receiving a criminal conviction, they were ordered to pay a total of £17,288.44 in fines and costs following the successful prosecution by The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).

The legal action by FACT is part of Sky’s enforcement activity which has seen thousands of pubs visited across the UK this football season to monitor illegal screenings of games.

Stephen Gerrard, prosecuting manager at FACT, said: “This latest conviction demonstrates how seriously licensees and their staff should take the issue of illegally showing Sky Sports content in their premises.

“In addition to the risk of being subject to an unlimited fine for the offences they commit, 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 license.”

Alison Dolan, deputy managing director at Sky Business, added: “Licensees who break the law by showing Sky Sports illegally are putting the livelihoods of honest landlords at risk.

“We actively visit thousands of pubs every season to monitor the games they are showing and continue to support FACT’s work to protect hardworking Sky customers who are unfairly losing business due to this illegal activity.”

Any licensee can report suspected illegal broadcasting in confidence at http://business.sky.com/fighting-fraud