Sky airs signal to catch illegal broadcasters

Sky has revealed the new technology it is using in the hunt for licensees who illegally televise Premier League football.

From now on licensees who are legitimate commercial subscribers will see a pint glass 'bug' appear on their screen when Premier League matches are aired.

Anyone televising games without a commercial agreement will not have the icon and therefore face prosecution in the criminal or civil court.

The bug will appear and disappear on channels at different times known only to Sky Business and their policing partners the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).

The broadcaster has established field forces nationwide to detect illegal showing of games and the new pint glass bug will make it easy to identify and take action against pubs who are showing Sky Sports illegally.

The new technology and policing force represents a major investment for the company in its efforts to protect its own customers.

Bruce Cuthbert, Head of Operations at Sky Business, who has been leading the development of the initiative, said: "We take the interests of our customers very seriously and have had a lot of calls from licensees who know others are showing games illegally but seem to be getting away with it. This will clamp down on the rogue licensees."

Raymond Leinster, Director General FACT, added: "We are very pleased with Sky's new initiative, which will assist our investigators by making it extremely obvious where Sky Sports is being shown illegally in licensed premises."

Sky has stepped up efforts to prosecute anyone infringing copyright laws by using illegal decoders. It has recently added to the list of 800 perpetrators it has already taken to court, many of whom have been fined up to £15,000.