Pubs stopping showing the football as landlords slam ‘illegal streaming’

Pub landlords say they are turning off the football because of a rise in the number of people illegally streaming games.

Raucous atmospheres with sticky floors and steamed-up windows could soon be a thing of the past, as landlords rally together to express their frustration about the loss of revenue. The discussion was had on a pub landlord forum on Facebook where one disgruntled publican asked: “How is anybody making sports on SKY, TNT and Amazon profitable?

"With the amount of illegal streaming my customer numbers have dropped off. I've tried to talk to SKY but they don't want to know.”

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One group member said: “Sky is too much money for a pub to make any money now – average pub is about £700/1500 per month it’s cheaper to buy them a match ticket.” According to members of the group, the number of people packing into boozers to watch games has taken a nosedive recently, leaving pubs questioning the value of taking out subscriptions with the aim of drawing in bumper matchday crowds.

The outcome of this could mean fewer and fewer pubs showing the games, killing off the strong tradition and making it harder for people who can’t afford subscriptions of their own to watch their team play.

One landlord came up with a murky solution, noting: “We explained to our locals that the cost was astronomical so we weren't going to keep running it, they just bring their iPads/tablets down and watch it at their table… None of my business if they're streaming illegally or not. Plus no more arguments about which game to watch.”

The Daily Star has contacted Sky and TNT for comment regarding this story.

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