Foreign satellite pubs face Summer crackdown

Pubs that show Premiership football using foreign satellite TV systems and equipment suppliers have been warned there will be targeted "on-going operations" against them this summer.

The warning follows raids on six Blackpool pubs, which resulted in foreign satellite cards and boxes used to screen Premier League football being seized.

Officers from Blackpool trading standards carried out the operations on Wednesday May 9, assisted by Lancashire Police and Media Protection Services (MPS), the firm which operates on behalf of the FA Premier League.

A spokeswoman for Blackpool Council said it was not releasing the names of the pubs because the cases were still ongoing. "We are holding the equipment as evidence and looking to see if we will carry out any prosecutions," she added. She confirmed that there are no further operations planned in the area.

However, Ray Hoskin, managing director of MPS, said: "Trading standards and police are now looking to take action against suppliers as well as licensees. There will be operations over the summer, but we are merely giving trading standards and the police technical assistance."

In a separate operation, a supplier of the equipment, Permavision, was raided on Thursday May 10, with police seizing decoder cards from the firm based in Chorley, Lancashire.

Sgt Tony Bushell, licensing officer at Chorley police, confirmed details of the operation. He said: "A warrant was executed and items were seized."

Last month Portsmouth licensee Karen Murphy lodged an application to go to the High Court after failing in her Crown Court appeal against her conviction for screening live Premier League football using a foreign satellite system.