Sky boss: 'Disquiet [over price rises] is understandable'

A great deal has been said about Sky's decision to change the way it sets its commercial subscription.

As we might have expected, there have been those keen to express their concerns in the face of increases to rateable value and Sky's underlying price rise, our first in three years. This disquiet is understandable. Business is tough and pubs have to work harder than ever to attract punters.

But we live in a commercial world and Sky is unable to freeze its prices indefinitely. Our costs are increasing too, and this year alone we'll spend more than a billion pounds on Sky Sports, to continue to offer an exceptional product. I have to charge a price which I believe to be both fair and economically viable for customers.

So in attempting to address concerns about fairness, we've now introduced a pricing mechanism which better reflects the value of Sky to individual premises.

Having moved away from the rather unwieldy rateable value (RV) bands, the reality is that in addition to those that are set to pay more - either due to a significant increase in their RV, or because they had previously benefitted from the inflexibility of the banding system - many thousands of pubs will actually see a price decrease. Understandably they haven't been so vocal.

I accept that some customers will believe Sky should be cheaper, or that live sports doesn't drive as much value for them as it does others.

Fortunately every business has a free choice about whether to subscribe, based on an economic assessment of the worth of live sports.

By offering discounts based on food and outside space, as well as transitional relief on RV increases, I believe we've made some really significant steps forward, steps that reflect the changes in the industry. What's more, we intend to introduce further discounts to better reflect the value Sky holds for each individual premise.

Rest assured, throughout our pricing review we have consulted, debated and reviewed with the industry and will continue to do so.

This is only the start of many more things to come. We'll keep reviewing and amending our pricing structures so that we continue to make progress. This is only the start of a journey.

We've also taken meaningful steps to help pubs up the anti in terms of delivering a premium live sports experience.

HD and a second viewing card are now free on a permanent basis, Sky Sports News will exclusively form part of the Sky package from next month, and we will continue with our groundbreaking 3D channel next year - available to Sky Ultimate customers at no additional charge.

From the new season we'll ramp up our 3D output and, crucially for pubs, will continue to offer some exclusive content not available to our residential Sky 3D customers, meaning that there will continue to be a tangible difference between what's available at home, and what you'll find at the pub.

Let me stress, we believe Sky should be affordable to all pubs who would see value in offering live sport, and if and when a pub chooses to subscribe, to price accordingly.

That's why we are engaging with the industry with the aim of better matching the cost of our product to the value individual customers can realise from it.