The war on illegal streaming and viewing content without permission shows no signs of stopping.
UEFA recently gained a court order which will allow it to instantly block streams of its Champions League games and now another warning is being issued to those who view football without permission.
In the past week, a number people have been charged for showing Sky Sports without a commercial agreement from Sky.
FACT brought the criminal prosecution on Monday 26th February 2017 at Teesside Magistrates Court against the licensees with them now facing huge fines.
Sky Sports is only available to licensed premises in the UK via a commercial viewing agreement from Sky Business.
Licensees that show Sky broadcasts without a commercial viewing agreement risk similar action or even a criminal prosecution.
Ms Geraldine Williams and Mr Anthony Williams, licensees of the Cleveland Inn, Middleborough, were found guilty after a trial of six offences each of dishonest reception of a television transmission by showing Sky Sports to customers without a commercial agreement from Sky.
They were each fined £1,000 per offence and were also ordered to pay £100 Victim Surcharge and £3,500 prosecution costs totalling £9,600 each and £19,200 overall.
Stephen Gerrard, Prosecuting Manager, FACT said “These cases should send a clear warning to pub owners and licensees who show Sky broadcasts without a commercial subscription.
“If convicted, fines for this offence are unlimited and you may have to pay substantial legal costs, as well as putting yourself at risk of having your licence suspended or revoked.”
This comes after two other premises were also fined.
Mr Simon Speak of Big Johns Bar, has been ordered to pay damages, costs and interest totalling of £47,423.93 and Malachy McGuigan and Siobhan Burns, former licensees of Muldoons bar have been ordered to pay £14,742.97.
George Lawson, head of commercial piracy at Sky, said: “It’s important to us that businesses are aware of the consequences of showing Sky Sports illegally – it is a serious issue that is damaging to the pub industry, and those licensees who choose to televise content in this way should be aware that they are at high risk of being caught and face substantial penalties”.
“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”.
It’s not just pubs that need to aware of the rules around piracy as Sky customer was recently forced to pay £5,000 after his account was linked to an illegal stream on Facebook.
The feverishly-anticipated fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko back in April 2017 was available exclusively on Sky Sports Box Office for £19.95.
However, thousands of people enjoyed the boxing match via a Facebook live stream for free.
The stream, which was viewed by some 4,250 people at its peak, was traced back to the Sky account holder, Craig Foster, of Scarborough.
Foster says he received a number of letters from Foot Anstey LLP, a law firm representing Sky, following the stream.
Neil Parkes, Partner at Foot Anstey LLP, told The Independent: “Mr Foster broke the law and illegally shared copyright protected content with thousands of people online.
“He has since acknowledged his wrongdoing, apologised for his actions and signed a legally binding agreement in which he agrees to pay a sum of £5,000 to Sky.”