Licensees to be hit bySky double whammy

by Tony Halstead

Pubs are to be hit with a double whammy price increase by Sky from August.

The broadcaster has revealed it will combine new business rate revaluations on licensed premises with its own annual subscriber price review before the new soccer season kicks off.

Licensees are already bracing themselves for another big rise in subscriptions if Sky's annual increase repeats last year's 18% hike.

Commercial subscribers have been contacted by Sky and told that new rateable values, which come into effect on 1 April, will be frozen until August.

But it says the new valuations will be factored into new subscription rates effective from the start of the next Premiership season.

It is feared many pubs will face an automatic increase when their premises are placed in higher Sky charging bands due to the revaluation which will see an average 17% rise on values countrywide.

One licensee, Douglas Stoneley-Hulme, of the Antelope, Kearsley, near Bolton, says he faces a minimum £125-a-month rise because his pub will jump two Sky charging bands. "My rateable value has gone up from £10,500 to £17,000 putting me two bands further up the ladder," he said. "This means £125 a month extra on top of whatever increase Sky decides to put on their own charges."

Boss of Lincolnshire-based Bulldog Pub Company Kevin Charity believes the company will use the three-month "freeze" to justify the size of its August rise.

"I haven't worked out just what the rate revaluation will mean yet, but I think it is all pointing to a hefty rise in August," he predicted.

Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations chief executive Tony Payne urged licensees to carry out a full financial appraisal of Sky's viability in their business before deciding whether to continue the service. "The revaluation does not automatically mean a rise in bandings as the rateable value of some pubs will remain the same while others will actually go down," he said.

But Sky has already conceded many rateable values will rise although it says it will be some time after 1 April before it is clear how this will affect its pricing structure.

"We intend to factor the 2005 rateable values and any appropriate charges into new subscription rates which will take effect from around the start of the 2005/2006 FAPL football season," Sky told licensees.