Dudley pubs charged twice for Sky
A pub owner says Sky will receive double its money from his three pubs during this football season.
Licensee Graham Wright is selling the pubs around the Dudley area and has tried to get a refund on his Sky season ticket, which supplies 40 Premiership matches during the season on Sky's pay-per-view channel Premiership Plus.
He was told by Sky that he could not get the refund but to his amazement the satellite operator also insisted that the new owner would have pay for a brand new ticket to get the service back, rather than transferring Mr Wright's current ticket.
He said: "It is a total and utter rip-off. I paid £350 for my season ticket and Sky now wants an additional £400 from the new owner, so essentially it is getting double the payment on the same premises. This will happen with my other two pubs as well.
"Imagine if this policy is enforced on say a couple of thousand pubs that are sold during the football season. That is out of order."
However, Louise Newman, communications manager for Sky, said: "When a publican buys the season ticket with us we reiterate that the ticket is non-refundable and non-transferable. I think we have got this across because we don't often see problems like this."
This is the latest example of growing anger against Sky among licensees. There was outcry following price rises in July and August, when annual subscription rates rose by up to 22 per cent and Premiership Plus prices rose by 100 per cent.
London Sky meeting
Licensees are reminded that the Federation of Licensed Victuallers' Associations is hosting a meeting about Sky at Portcullis House in Westminster, London, on Wednesday September 17 at 5.15pm.
Speakers will include John Grogan, chairman of the Parliamentary Beer Group, and Professor Rogan Taylor, director of the Football Industries' Group at the Liverpool University School of Management.
Related articles:
Meeting to hit out against Sky's price increases (20th-August-2003)
