Sky Sports: Another £24,000 fine issued as crackdown on illegal broadcasts

[Len]

SKY has slapped another customer with a massive fine of £24,000 this week, as the company continued its efforts to combat people illegally broadcasting its content.

Earlier this week it was revealed that a Sky customer would have to pay £5,000 after his account was linked to an illegal stream on Facebook.

However, only days later, a popular lakeside hotel, restaurant and bar in Brighouse, West Yorkshire was also handed a massive fine for illegally showing Sky Sports football matches to its customers without a license.

The licensee for 'The Casa' pleaded guilty to six offences of dishonest reception of a television transmission at Kirklees Magistrates Court on Wednesday. 

As a result the establishment were fined £2,500 on each offence, plus ordered to pay a £200 victim surcharge and costs of £9,131.21 making a total of £24,331.21.

“These cases should send a clear warning to pub owners and licensees who show Sky broadcasts without a commercial subscription,” declared Stephen Gerrard, Prosecuting Manager, FACT.

“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.”

“We take piracy very seriously and remain committed to protecting our legitimate Sky customers who are unfairly losing business due to this illegal activity,” added George Lawson, head of commercial piracy at Sky.

“Those licensees who choose to televise content illegally should be aware that they are at high risk of being caught and face substantial penalties and a criminal conviction.

"The only legal way to show Sky Sports programming in licensed premises in the UK is via a commercial viewing agreement from Sky.”

This isn't the first tme that Sky has and it was only last July that a fellow pub/hotel in Newmilns, Scotland was also ordered to pay a £10,000 fine after infringing Sky Sports copyright.

Though this most recent fine from Sky is in relation to businesses and pubs, it's worth reminding everyone reading of what happened earlier in the week with Craig Foster, from Scarborough, who has been forced to pay £5,000 in legal costs to Sky.

Mr Foster has paid nearly £20 to watch the Anthony Joshua Wladimir Klitschko fight on Sky Box Office last year.

But one of Craig's mates picked up his iPad and streamed the fight through Facebook Live to thousands of people..

Sky managed to track down Craig from a watermark on his account number, and claimed that Mr Foster could face fines of up to £85,000 if the case went to court.

Neil Parkes, Partner at Foot Anstey LLP, told The Independent afterwards: “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.”

Again, this isn't the first time this has occurred, as only last year another Sky Sports subscriber was ordered to pay £16,000 after being caught illegally streaming the channel.