A PUB landlord has been ordered to pay a hefty penalty after illegally screening football matches on Sky Sports without a commercial viewing agreement.
Michael Hudson, of the Prince of Wales in Ross-on-Wye's Walford Road was proven guilty in his absence by magistrates in Hereford on March 22.
The court heard Hudson had dishonestly received Sky televised football matches with the intent of avoiding payment applicable for the reception of that programme on November 20 and December 4.
Sky Sports is only available to licensed premises in the UK via a commercial viewing agreement from Sky Business.
Hudson, who is the designated license holder of the Prince of Wales pub, was fined a total of £3,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £3,098.78 and a £170 victim surcharge.
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FACT brought the criminal prosecution against the licensee for showing Sky Sports to customers without having valid commercial viewing agreements in place.
Kieron Sharp, FACT chief executive, said “Our aim is to help create an effective deterrent to publicans who endeavour to fraudulently show Sky content on their premises and FACT will continue to protect the intellectual property rights of its clients by pursuing those who continue to break the law”.
Sara Stewart, compliance manager at Sky, added: “Now more than ever it’s important to protect the investment of our customers. Businesses that show Sky Sports illegally can leave our legitimate Sky subscribers feeling short-changed.
“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.
“Venues who continue to televise content in this way are breaking the law, and are at risk of being caught, which can result in licensees being fined and having to pay legal costs, and/or losing their personal licence.”
Sky said it is committed to visiting every licensed premises reported by other publicans or organisations for illegally showing Sky and visit hundreds of pubs each week in towns and cities across the UK.
Any licensee affected by these issues can report suspected illegal broadcasting confidentially at www.pubpiracy.com
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