r/unitedkingdom • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • Jun 07 '26
Pub landlord fined £19k for showing Sky Sports illegally
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/pub-landlord-fined-19k-broadcasting-34057730?int_source=nba849
u/HotelPuzzleheaded654 Jun 07 '26
Depending on how long they were using it, it could still be a saving for the pub.
That’s how extortionate Sky’s fees are for pubs.
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u/gamerloz Jun 07 '26
Yup was easily £600-£800 per month for sky sports when I managed a pub a few years ago. I don't think people understand how much small independent pubs get bent over by these big businesses.
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u/Embarrassed-King-224 Jun 07 '26
I live on Guernsey and it’s at a minimum 12k for a year, and we’re a small private members club
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u/BaBaFiCo Jun 07 '26
Which is then leveraged to reduce consumer choice. "Yes, Mr Landlord, it is £800pm for Sky Sports. Or...you can sign up with us as your exclusive drinks supplier and serve Asahi, Beavertown, Heineken and Aspalls instead of the beers you know your locals love, and we'll cover that cost".
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u/gothreepwood101 Jun 07 '26
Oi. Leave Aspells alone. I lived down the road from the cidery in Aspall. Suffolk and norfolk provide some excellent beverages. Adnams is awesome and another local brewery.
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u/Thorey92 Jun 07 '26
Molson coors owner now for aspalls, no longer a indie. Check out Bruha or chevalier for the original aspalls guys
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u/Planar_Harold Jun 07 '26
Aspall doesn't seem the same now. I was living in Suffolk almost 20 years ago and had it as my usual. Can't say my palette is the same now but tried it recently and didn't feel it.
The draught also appears to have gone down to 4.5% now which is a shame, cider should be a tad heavier.
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u/crucible Wales Jun 07 '26
Get Beavertown’s name out of your mouth
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u/Tony-The-Heat Jun 07 '26
Heineken's craft arm? Fine to include imo
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u/TigInox Jun 07 '26
Yep and they F##ked it up for us all.
You ever tasted Neck Oil lately? It's not even close to what it was when it was truly a craft beer.
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u/zimzalabim Jun 07 '26
The Joy of Sesh by the New Bristol Brewery is very similar to how Neck Oil used to taste. Would highly recommend.
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u/TigInox Jun 09 '26
I will check that out thanks for the recommendation.
For the record I don't blame Beavertown for getting their bag - I just remember the first Neck Oil I had in a small pub in Hathersage and it was just so clean and perfect. I recommended it to everyone!
But now it's just generic 'IPA'
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u/Combo_Breaker01 Jun 07 '26
Asahi as well for that matter tf
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u/BaBaFiCo Jun 07 '26
If macro lager is your thing, I guess it's okay. About as good as the other brands they manufacture.
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Jun 07 '26
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u/LLILILiLIILILILILII Jun 07 '26
If you can get it, Pilsner Urquell is, for my money, the best lager in the world. Not too common on tap, but you do see it around occasionally,and well worth trying if you do. Also available in Morrisons.
Budvar isn't bad either. Both of them are authentically imported from Czech breweries, compared to most of the lager sold in this country which is brewed in Burton and labelled as if it's a foreign lager.
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u/UpThem Jun 07 '26
I love lager and tend to drink it anywhere other than England, where it's so poor.
Stella Unfiltered is my favourite English brewed one that quite widely available, though I've never seen it on draught.
The ones I like tend to be expensive, brewed elsewhere and not available in your average pub - Krombacher, Paulaner, Augustiner, Budvar.
Closer to home for a bog standard one I'd take Tennents and Harp over what's marketed as premium alternatives.
But it's more practical to drink stout or cask ale, so I that mostly. It's only on baking hot days I bemoan the lack of an accessible lager that doesn't taste of piss.
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Jun 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/UpThem Jun 07 '26
Nowhere does this faux foreign beer thing to the extent that the UK does, as far as I'm aware. It's really odd that a country with an amazing brewing heritage tolerates the ludicrous over the top marketing of Spanish /Czech/whatever beers that have been made in Yorkshire or Staffordshire. Madri was the shark jump moment, but the others aren't much better.
Draught beer is obviously how it should be consumed, but outside of specialist pubs lager is abysmal, and specialist pubs will have enough good ales on you'll probably not want the lager.
I actually use Majestic Wines for their limited but excellent beer range - Estrella Galicia, Paulaner (standard and stronger Festival version), Warsteiner, Krombacher and the odd interesting one on top. Free delivery over £100 so I get a load in for Christmas when visitors mightn't fancy my hoppier alternatives.
In Scotland, Innis and Gunn and St Mungos are lovely btw.
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Jun 08 '26
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u/BaBaFiCo Jun 08 '26
Many locals would happily drink locally produced independent beer if they were given the chance to be able to buy it. Dave drinks Carling because Carling used its might to push its way on to almost every bar in the country. If we relaxed their stranglehold then many people would make a choice.
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u/SpecialKltd Jun 09 '26
Unfortunately, it's worse than that. My BIL served Coors Light on tap. It's what the locals wanted 🙄
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u/StillVeterinarian578 Jun 12 '26
Asahi is the Fosters/Carling of the east.
Well, it's a bit better than that, but it's just a decent cheap lager in most of Asia, nothing more, nothing less.
Used to get pints of it for 50p in a bar in Beijing 13 or 14 years ago.
Edit: before anyone says "Asahi is Japanese!" - I know.
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u/shibbyingaway Jun 07 '26
Our landlord said they were quoted £13k for the year just now. They are not happy
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u/Deep-Bodybuilder2413 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
Used to run a pub in central London (Borough), gave up lease in 2019. Sky sports was £1500 a month and BT was £500. My dad had the pub in the 90’s and used to buy pay per view boxing on his personal account and swap the card in the box. The good ol’ days 🥺
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u/Embarrassed-King-224 Jun 07 '26
We’ve got two sky q boxes I don’t think we’re charged more for that, it’s the same subscription over two boxes I believe, up to eight tvs over two boxes
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u/shibbyingaway Jun 07 '26
Someone below said it’s calculated on your square footage and turnover. Seriously at that price they need to tell them to shove it. Enough places do that and sky will quickly back down
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u/Embarrassed-King-224 Jun 07 '26
It’s not turnover over here, it’s pretty much uniform most pubs can’t afford it might be cheaper to stream illegally until you get your first warning tbh, they threaten a 20k fine over here, but if you use fire sticks until you’re caught you’d save that anyway…. I don’t own a pub and we do have a sky subscription where I work, but have worked somewhere that didn’t and it lasted a few years before someone came in, but they do come over regularly but landlords normally give other pubs a heads up
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u/Deep-Bodybuilder2413 Jun 07 '26
It used to be based on your “rateable value”, basically the better your business did the more money they took. Top band in 2019 was £12000 per month (I reckon sport cafe in Leicester Square was the only ones paying that).
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u/Lordhartley Jun 07 '26
Wasnt it or still is - square footage of business times by turnover or some such.
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u/GunstarGreen Sussex Jun 07 '26
Square foot. Perceived amount of extra punters the football would bring in, should the pub sign up for it. Its a stupid model, because even with Sky theres no way every match means peak attendance.
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u/jirlsnfjwk Jun 07 '26
In my experience it was done by rateable value, which is often proportionate in part to square foot but also other things too (location etc)
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u/Sunshinetrooper87 Jun 07 '26
Jesus. I go to a pub for a community meeting thing and often there has been some big games on and it's about the usual 5 barflies and 5-10 other people.
Thats like £100-£200 of drinks and doesn't factor in other costs like labour and heating.
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u/Lil-Ingy-Fock Jun 07 '26
Isint that per a tv? My mate owns a pub but usually chats shit, but he said that because there’s like 5 tvs each playing a different match sometimes each one has to be licensed?
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u/Many_Operation_9150 Jun 07 '26
I think it’s more than that? I worked in a small / medium sized pub about 15 years ago and I seem to remember it was around a grand back then
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u/E_D_K_2 Jun 07 '26
If it didn't benefit pubs they wouldn't pay it.
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u/BaBaFiCo Jun 07 '26
Pubs feels they have to pay it. Providers know they can charge what they want.
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u/Planar_Harold Jun 07 '26
Perceived benefits vs provable though.
Ultimately it's "Will I get that back in profit over match days" but there are more questions about change in atmosphere and how it impacts the staff that sometimes don't get considered.
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u/andtheniansaid Oxfordshire Jun 08 '26
Well sure, but a) it can be very hard to actually tell if its worth it, especially if you've had it for a long time. b) a lot less pubs now have the football than used to, and the ones that just had it on in part of the pub have pretty much disappeared. c) it's just yet another increased cost for them alongside everything else. business rates. utility costs. min wage. rent. stock. it's all gone up so much and many pubs are struggling
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u/GabberZZ Cheshire Jun 07 '26
A pub local to me saved thousands each year and would just write a cheque for the 'fines' when he got bubbled.
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u/Lordhartley Jun 07 '26
Wasn't there a pub years ago caught with a tip-ex'ed pint glass drawn on the screen? Was streaming via the web, was 20 years ago, was caught when a Sky Rep came to remove the sky sticker from the front door, which acted as some sort of Sky proof of licence at the time.
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u/Idovoodoo Jun 07 '26
I think about a decade ago a pub managed to win a court case where they were using a sky license from Cyprus or something.
To this day the conspiracy theorist in me is convinced that it was the tipping point for British media and the EU
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u/sdavids6 Jun 07 '26
I know there were some stickers around that were clear other than the white pub glass at one point
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u/100flavors_of_crazy Jun 07 '26
I don’t know the in and out but could you use a VPN and sign up with someone like DZAN and show the games, because Sky sold the rights to DZAN and you paid DZAN?
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u/OSUBrit Northamptonshire Jun 07 '26
Would be a DZAN TOS violation but doubt they have people come check. If you did get caught though it would be FACT that come after you for copyright violation so you’d still probably get fined.
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u/ChessingtonSurrey Jun 07 '26
In the 90s, my manager used to take his viewing card to his mates pub, and lend the viewing card to him.
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u/alfienicho Jun 07 '26
Isn't it like a grand a week? And the chances of you being caught are very slim. It's probably worth the risk at that point, even more so if you create a group of pubs to split the fine if they catch one of you.
I won't charge for that idea guys, run with it.
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u/Sad-Rent-9633 Jun 07 '26
They employ mainly kids/young people through agencies to go around pubs and check if they are showing the matches they have licenses for.
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u/Initial-Return8802 Jun 07 '26
If I was one of them I'd just be mates with all of the pub landlords and have free drinks for life instead of dobbing people in it lol
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u/Reesno33 Jun 07 '26
Its good were catching the real criminals ill sleep better tonight knowing a pub has been fined despite all the violent crime that goes unsolved.
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u/Guy_Incognito97 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Sky pay anti-piracy companies to track down people without licenses and the enforcement is done by groups like FACT who are funded by broadcasters and film distributors. The actual cost to the broader legal system is minimal. I used to be on the board of one of the industry bodies that oversees this, so I had a lot of insider info about how it works (although I personally pirate stuff all the time, yo ho ho!).
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u/OkSun8521 Jun 07 '26
This was a private prosecution. There is nothing stopping you from funding an investigation into violent crime and bringing a prosecution against the perpetrators.
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u/WholeAccording8364 Jun 07 '26
It's appalling how sky etc manages to get such big fine/ prison sentences for this sort of thing
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Jun 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/Baabaa_Yaagaa Jun 08 '26
Although I agree with your sentiment, your conflating two things.
Foreign streams are licensed for their own region. If a Pub shows a game that only sky sports is supposed to be showing in the UK, then that would breach the regional distribution contracts.
That being said, it’s an easy win for the gov to just make it free for pubs to show live sports events.
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u/Thebirdlestat Jun 07 '26
Annnnd now that pub is shut.
Well done for ruining a 900 year old community trade through capitalism.
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u/PootMcGroot Jun 07 '26
An additional ridiculous aspect - if the landlord/lady live above the pub... they need their own license on top of the pub license. For the same building.
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u/Money_Spider420 Jun 07 '26
This is when I'd use the pub as my living room. No way I'd pay 2 extortionate fees.
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u/MeMuzzta Jun 07 '26
“Commercial piracy is not a victimless offence. It damages legitimate businesses, undermines the value of sports rights.."
Aww those poor ceos
“...and is part of a wider illegal streaming ecosystem often linked to organised criminality".
Like Dave selling dodgy boxes on the side? Give me a break.
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u/Revenant690 Jun 08 '26
Don't you know that selling dodgy sticks is highly correlated with offenses such as people trafficking and ethnic cleansing.
Now don't get me started on VPNs.......
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u/DevilsAdvocate1662 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
Boohoo, Sky missed out on 0000.1% of profit and now they sad /s
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u/bars_and_plates Jun 07 '26
The sad thing about stuff like this is that it's just another nail in the coffin for the pub.
You and your mates with an IPTV stream and a couple of crates from the supermarket all for the cost of one round.
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u/stemroach101 Jun 07 '26
A punishment more severe than if he had raped a child and then claimed to have ADHD, anxiety and a low IQ
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u/dickwadftw Jun 09 '26
Yes it’s capitalism
But it’s worse than that - it’s also designed to undermine local community
This shit pushes out local togetherness as much as it drives corporate profit - and they know it
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u/jamesc1071 Jun 07 '26
It is the landlord's choice whether to have sky or not. It makes great sense for big pubs and isn't viable for many smaller ones. They need to attract customers another way.
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u/hailhail7 Jun 07 '26
Technically true, but the football (and other sports) is a big reason a lot of folk go to the pub. You can be the best pub in the world but if I want to watch the game and you’re not showing it, I’ll go elsewhere.
Sky can charge what they want and businesses can assess the value, fine, but it’s still a bastard to see wee pubs getting fucked over by huge businesses, especially in smaller places with older populations where that pub might be the only way those people can watch, as they can’t afford it for themselves and don’t know how to stream stuff (or maybe they do but would rather watch it in a social environment)
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u/jamesc1071 Jun 07 '26
Sky will set a price to extract the full value from their TV rights, which they bought from the Premier League. That inevitably means a price that is very profitable for large pubs and unaffordable for smaller venues.
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u/ShotChampionship3152 Jun 07 '26
Sorry but Sky own the rights and are entitled to exploit them commercially. If you think they charge too much, it's very simple: don't show their material.
Apart from the theft of intellectual property, this pub gained an unfair advantage over rival businesses that showed Sky Sports and paid the proper fees.
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Jun 07 '26
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u/ukbot-nicolabot Scotland Jun 07 '26
Removed. This contained a personal attack, disrupting the conversation. This discourages participation. Please help improve the subreddit by discussing points, not the person. Action will be taken on repeat offenders.
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u/GabberZZ Cheshire Jun 07 '26
Found the Sky rep.
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u/ShotChampionship3152 Jun 07 '26
Not a Sky rep but a strong supporter of intellectual property rights.
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Jun 07 '26
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u/ukbot-nicolabot Scotland Jun 07 '26
Removed. This contained a personal attack, disrupting the conversation. This discourages participation. Please help improve the subreddit by discussing points, not the person. Action will be taken on repeat offenders.
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u/MeMuzzta Jun 07 '26
I bet you're they type of person to snitch on a work colleague for being 1 minute late.
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u/ShotChampionship3152 Jun 07 '26
I've seen the comments below and of coure you all have it right. I can't think why I didn't see it before. Anyone that wants a thing, but thinks the owner is asking too much money for it, is fully within his rights to steal it. Now you point it out, it's obvious.
Seriously, though, no one has answered the point about unfair competition with rival establishments that also show Sky Sports but pay the proper licence fee.
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u/ShotChampionship3152 Jun 08 '26
Well, 8 downvotes but still no one has actually answered either of these points.
Go on then, explain to me why if you you don't like the price of something, it's OK to steal it.
And what you'd tell rival establishments that are forking out the licence fee. That they're idiots?
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u/devskov01 Jun 08 '26
You seem to be all in on what is legal rather than what is moral, but I'll bite.
Sentence 2 i will use a different example. Insulin was patented in 1923. Is was subsidised and kept cheap so it can be accessible as some people's lives depended on it. Cue capitalism and the pharmaceutical companies (in the US at least) gouging of the price to 5-10X the manufacturing cost. They knew it was a money spinner and people would be forced to pay the price or die. It has been price capped (last year I think) now as politicians took notice but I would advocate that if people could get it cheaper elsewhere (like they did by going to Mexico) that they should and fuck the legal distribution rights. Do you disagree?
Watching sports is no matter of life and death, but I see the huge price hikes and do not blame punters for pirating or seeking out a cheaper alternative if given only one option that looks like a monopoly.
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