The former owner of a Dundee bar has been hit with a £10,000 fine for showing Sky Sports illegally.
Derrick Murdoch, former landlord of the Mun Lounge on Broughty Ferry Road, was slapped with the hefty fine after the broadcaster launched a legal bid in the Court of Session.
But Mr Murdoch says he was not aware of the award made against him until he was contacted by The Courier this week.
The former publican, who closed the Mun Lounge last year, hit out at British broadcaster for “targeting honest hard-working small businesses”.
Former Dundee landlord blasts cost to show football
“They should be relaxing costs, not chasing landlords who are desperately trying to keep establishments open for the public and also running at a huge loss,” he says.
Estimates from last year suggest pubs would be paying an average of around £20,000 per year to show both Sky and BT.
The ruling means Mr Murdoch has been ordered to pay the damages, plus interest, along with Sky’s costs.
He says he believes it may have been a staff member at the venue who used a ‘cracked’ Amazon Firestick device to allow them to stream Sky Sports.
Sky says it is committed to protecting pubs that invest in legitimate Sky Sports subscriptions.
They are encouraging publicans who become aware of others who do not have a licence to report them to the company.
Compliance manager at Sky, Sara Stewart, said: “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 to help 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 ordered to pay significant damages and legal costs to Sky, and/or losing their personal licence.”
Derrick Murdoch was also critical of how the broadcast rights for football are broken up between BT and Sky.
“You have to pay BT who are not even half the price of Sky, but once you pay both companies the average price is about £1,600 a month for a scheme pub,” he says.
‘They should be ashamed of themselves’
Mr Murdoch warned that unless the price was reduced, many landlords would be unable to survive.
He adds: “Typical fat cat huge company targeting honest hard-working small businesses.
“They should be ashamed of themselves.”
