Sky bows to pressure from publicans over sport fees

Sky Ireland has listened to angry bar owners and suspend their fees for showing live sport, but householders will still have to pay for their sports packages.

The television giant said it will not be charging businesses for their Sky Sports service until the live sport schedule returns.

Bars pay around €2,350 per month to show live events on Sky Sports.

Sporting bodies such as the English Premier League — Sky’s flagship sports offering — has suspended matches as the Covid-19 pandemic spreads.

Football across all European leagues, as well as sports like boxing and rugby, have cancelled most high-profile events, leaving television stations like Sky Sports and BT Sports with a dearth of live programming.

Sky Business managing director Simon Raggett said: “We fully appreciate that these are challenging times for you and your business. Serving our customers and doing what we can to support you is very important to us and we will continue to closely monitor the situation as it develops.”

Despite the reassurances to businesses, there were no such measures implemented for household customers, many of whom lambasted the programming provider with angry messages on social media.

No live sport means their sports packages are currently of little appeal, customers tweeted at Sky Ireland.

The measures to mitigate business costs was welcomed by the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA), the representative body for Dublin publicans.

The LVA said it had been “working on this issue since the closure of the pubs was announced, with many members contacting us about the significant charges imposed by Sky”.

“We are pleased to see that Sky has now relented on this issue, following our engagement and a massive social media campaign led by our vice chairman, Noel Anderson,” the LVA stated.

The body said it is also continuing to engage with a number of other companies and businesses on behalf of its members, “to bring forward measures that will assist publicans in light of the current crisis”.

The LVA added: “This work is ongoing. We will keep members informed as soon as there are any concrete developments.”

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