A range of licensed establishments across the UK and abroad have been hit with fines levied for unauthorised broadcasts of Premier League football using foreign satellite systems. Separately, a supplier of illegal systems to pubs has, following a private prosecution instigated by the Premier League, been ordered to pay £125,000.

The sum will be paid to the UK Treasury who will pass 50 per cent of it onto the police and other statutory bodies involved in the investigation which led to the prosecution.

The pubs ordered to pay a total of £92,603 in costs to the Premier League for breach of copyright are:

• The Victoria, North Shields – ordered by the High Court to pay £9,165
• The Wessington, Washington – ordered by the High Court to pay £8,901
• Byker and Heaton Union, Newcastle – ordered by the High Court to pay £8,942
• T Tonic, Chaplins, Café Purple, Arizona, The Point (five pubs under common ownership, Sunderland) – settlement with court order for £10,000 of costs
• Gatsby, Sunderland – settlement with court order for pay £7,000 of costs
• The Dog & Gun, Banbury – ordered by the High Court to pay £9,825
• The Duke’s Head, Dartford – settlement with court order for £5,500 of costs
• Railway Hotel, Manchester – settlement with court order for £10,000 of costs
• Carsons Bar, Manchester – settlement with court order for £5,000 of costs
• The Woodpecker, Manchester – agreed to pay £6,000
• The Roundabout, St Helens – settled with court order for £5,500 of costs
• Virtuoso (formerly Ketts Tavern), Norwich – settled with court order for £6,770

Several of the pubs in the North East of England were using logo masking technology in an attempt to prevent the Premier League from taking legal action against them. The Premier League warned against being approached by suppliers offering such technology. “These cases provide further evidence for the pub trade that using illegal foreign broadcast systems to show Premier League football is extremely risky. Injunctions and significant costs awards are regularly being made in the Premier League’s favour in the High Court, and two suppliers of systems which facilitated illegal broadcasts being made in pubs have been jailed in the last year. We would advise all publicans to ignore the lies peddled by suppliers who make false claims about the legality of foreign broadcasts of our matches, and to contact Sky Sports and BT Sport as they are both authorised to show live Premier League football in commercial premises in the UK.”

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