TV Sport
Sky reveals hefty price hike ahead of new football season
The broadcaster is hiking its prices for pubs and clubs by 10% from 1 August 2016.
The significant increase is only its second price rise in six years as Sky looks to recoup some of the huge amount it paid for the new Premier League football rights deal.
The total amount paid by Sky and rival broadcaster BT was £5.136bn — an increase of 71% on the last three-year rights deal. Sky paid £4.176bn for 126 matches at an average cost per match of £11.07m.
However the price increase is likely to be met with dismay by some licensees struggling with higher operating costs in areas such as rates, utilities and labour.
Sky uses the rateable valuable of licensed premises to calculate pricing with discounts available for pubs dependent on location, outside space and food and drink offer.
Quality sport
Alison Dolan, deputy managing director at Sky Business, said licensees would be getting an additional 10 top-flight matches next season, including 10 in a new Friday night slot, and more first and second pick matches featuring bigger teams.
She also pointed to additional high quality sports content include The Open golf major and additional Formula One races.
Sky will also continue to work hard to drive consumer interest in watching live sport in pubs and assist licensees through its Go Further range of business and marketing support tools, including free WiFi, Dolan added.
"Sky Sports has added even more value through more Premier League matches including Friday nights, SPFL and the return of Old Firm games, Football League, The Open golf, F1, cricket and international rugby. We continually invest in the best content, products and support to ensure that Sky extends its lead as the number one entertainment choice for pubs to make more money.
"Like all businesses, we review pricing from time to time, but we work hard to minimise the impact on customers and to ensure pubs can keep driving trade with the best entertainment product for their businesses."
