Has Sky reached its limit?

Howls of protest greeted increased Sky subscriptions during the summer.

The Morning Advertiser news desk had never received so many angry phone calls on a single issue.

For sure, there had been Sky increases before that had prompted anger in the trade. But this time it was a bit different.

An average 300%-plus increase for the Prem Plus seemed like ­ as one caller put it ­ an "unabashed cash-grab" by Sky. Greedy and arrogant are other adjectives that callers frequently used about Sky.

A few months on and Sky is claiming that its increased prices can be justified by the number of bums on pub seats that the service is attracting. Sky reckons that the number of pub visits each week has climbed to 4.8 million a week from 3.3 million last season.

In other words, Sky's improved football and sport service has produced a 45% increase in the number of punters going to the pub to watch Sky in a single season.

Bearing in mind that 30% of pub subscribers have cancelled theirPrem Plus subscription this season, the actual percentage increase incustomer numbers per pub must be even higher for Sky's figures to make sense.

What's not in doubt is that the absolute amount being spent on Prem Plus by the trade has gone up massively.

A poll by the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, exclusively reported in the Morning Advertiser a few weeks ago, revealed that 16 companies were spending £1.4m on Prem Plus this season compared to £350,000 last season.

These figures show that Sky could have afforded to lose up to around 75% of its Prem Plus pub subscribers and still been ahead financially.

It appears that many licensees have decided to swallow their anger and stick with the service this season.

It remains the case that these licensees may well be but one more price rise away from cancellation.