Prem Plus fixtures are just getting worse'

Related tags Prem plus Manchester united f.c. Premier league The football league Sky

Further to the debate on Sky's pricing ("Reaching for the Sky", Morning Advertiser, 4 November) I have seen my Sky subscription bill rise from...

Further to the debate on Sky's pricing ("Reaching for the Sky", Morning Advertiser, 4 November) I have seen my Sky subscription bill rise from £1,200 to £9,000 (including Prem Plus) in six years.

I only wish my trade had risen by the same percentage but I have a small pub and can only get a limited audience.

Fee charging by rateable value may be fair and easy for Sky but is not always so for the publican.

As for Prem Plus viewing figures (Sky business division director Iain Holden claimed a two-million-strong pub audience for the first Saturday of the season), the first Saturday, if my memory serves me right, was a top quality game. This month we have:

6 Nov Aston Villa v Portsmouth

13 Nov Birmingham v Everton

20 Nov Manchester United v Charlton

27 Nov Fulham v Blackburn

27 Nov Manchester City v Aston Villa

At £40 each, I will be able to show these at a total cost to me of £200. But I can hardly see the pub being packed to the rafters for any of these matches.

The Prem Plus fixtures are just getting worse, and a month ago Sky would not even release which games would be shown, so you had no idea what dross was coming up. But what can we do?

G Parker

Old King's Head

King's Head Yard

London SE1 1NA

How many Prem Plus games make a profit?'

Further to your interview with Iain Holden in City & Business (Morning Advertiser, 4 November).

Having read the interview in full, I wonder what planet Mr Holden comes from. When Prem Plus was first introduced, my subscription was £75. Only a few years later I am asked to pay £1,600. (which I have refused).

The viewing area in any pub can only hold so many, so now we are expecting people to spend more per head, to pay for Sky. That is before extra profit is generated to pay staff wages, etc.

In my particular pub, if Manchester United were on every time, I might stand a chance. When Blackburn play any team other than Manchester United, nobody comes in.

This position must be replicated nationwide, with various local sides attracting a following, and any other match being a waste of time. So, how many Prem Plus games make a profit?

RD Griffin FBII

The Weaver

11 Thornton Square

Macclesfield

Cheshire

SK11 7XZ

Workers and the culture of service do not gel'

It was "more in sorrow than in anger" that I read Andrew Jefford's column in last week's Morning Advertiser (4 November).

The further I got in to the article, the more I knew exactly what your columnist was going to say about the quality of food and service in British pubs, bars and restaurants.

While there is no doubt that standards across the board have improved considerably in recent years, the chances of suffering a bad experience are still far too high. It really does seem that British workers and the culture of service ­ despite years of endeavour by many in the trade ­ still do not gel.

One can only hope that time will remedy the situation. Until then we need the likes of Andrew Jefford to turn the light of publicity on shameful examples when they do occur. Only in this way can we hope to learn by our mistakes.

Martin Archer

Luke Street

Eynesbury

St Neots

Cambridgeshire

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