by John Harrington
Nearly 4,000 pubs received official warnings about screening football illegally during the 'closed period last season, the Morning Advertiser has learnt.
The scale of the problem emerged as a body that prosecutes for illegal screenings issued a warning that it would target known 'hotspots during this football season.
Two weekends ago investigators in Sunderland discovered 12 pubs that had screened the Sunderland-Liverpool match during the closed period.
It is illegal to show matches during this period (2.45pm to 5.15pm on Saturdays) because it is feared that it could dissuade fans from watching games at stadiums.
Ray Hoskin, managing director of Media Protection Services, which investigates and prosecutes pubs that show matches in the closed period, highlighted north east England as a 'hotspot for illegal football screenings.
Hoskin said Media Protection Services would be concentrating on the north east, along with the north west and London, in particular, this season.
Hoskin explained that a num-ber of companies, believed to be more than 10, are offering hosts cheap access to Premiership games by transmitting signals from abroad, using decoder cards.
These systems can be used to screen games during the closed period. But Hoskin stressed that it is also illegal to use decoders to show Premiership games outside the closed period.
This is because Sky is the only company that owns the copyright to the games in the UK. The Federation Against Copy-right Theft prosecutes pubs that show matches illegally outside the closed period on behalf of Sky.
Hoskin said: 'People who import decoder cards go around the pub and say it's all perfectly legal to use foreign cards. It's a total lie.
Media Protection Services issues an official warning to any licensee who has been caught showing football in the closed period. Their pub would then be visited by undercover investigators, and if they are found be re-offend, they face prosecution and a £5,000 fine. Every licensee who was caught screening matches illegally after a warning was successfully prosecuted last season, Hoskin noted.
He warned licensees not to try to evade detection by putting up signs saying 'private party or by barring entry to Media Protection Services inspectors. 'I view these places as a priority, he concluded.