Premier League football: Illegal pub satellite box supplier jailed

08-Dec-2014 - Last updated on 08-Dec-2014 at 17:16 GMT

The Premier League is targetting supplier of illegal satellite boxes

A man who sold illegal satellite boxes to pubs that facilitated unauthorised broadcasting of Premier League football has been jailed for nine months.

Helidon Vuciterni pleaded guilty to copyright offences and had been held in contempt of court for intimidating two prosecution witnesses at a previous hearing.

Vuciterni sold about 16,000 digital satellite decoders through his Alsat UK company between 2009 and 2011 before being caught by a Trading Standards raid. He reportedly made more than £3m from this business.

Investigations remain on-going as to proceeds of crime and a confiscation hearing will happen in April 2015.

Licensees have previously criticised broadcasters and the Premier League for pursuing cases against individual pubs rather than suppliers. Several other cases against illegal suppliers are said to be in the pipeline.

Results

Premier League director of communications Dan Johnson said: “This is an important result for publicans who are showing our football the right way. We are pleased a supplier has been brought to custody as it reaffirms that supply, as well as use, of these systems is illegal.

"We are working hard to target suppliers and expect more positive results in coming months.”