Plymouth pub boss cleared of 'illegal' football match screenings
A CITY publican has been cleared by magistrates of illegally showing football matches in his pub.
Stanley Ashton was prosecuted for allegedly showing Sky domestic broadcasts in his premises without a Sky commercial contract.
The 63-year-old denied three counts of dishonestly receiving a programme with intent to avoid payment at the Friary Vaults in Grenville Road, St Judes.
It was claimed he had screened Stoke City v Chelsea and West Brom v Manchester United on August 14, and Liverpool v Manchester United on October 15.
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Mr Ashton was prosecuted by the Federation Against Copyright Theft for allegedly avoiding payment to BSkyB.
Plymouth magistrates dismissed the case at a hearing on Tuesday and awarded Mr Ashton costs from central funds.
Speaking after the two-day trial, his soli citor, Paul Dixon, said: "The magistrates had no hesitation in dismissing the charges against my client.
"Stan Ashton is a credit to the licensed trade. I am delighted that were able to establish his innocence and preserve his good character.
"This is the fourth case of this type against clients of mine that has been thrown out by the courts in the space of two weeks. The time has come for Sky to call a halt to its campaign of prosecutions against the licensed trade."
A Sky spokesman said: "Licensees should be aware that the only way to show Sky broadcasts to the public is via a commercial agreement with Sky and users of any other unauthorised system will be subject to legal action. Sky will continue to protect the interests of our legitimate subscribers by supporting FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) in prosecuting licensees who break the law."
Comments
by BarryBT
Friday, September 07 2012, 2:41AM
“WHAT DID HE DO WRONG?”
by Workitout
Thursday, September 06 2012, 10:56PM
“Pubs all over the country show their local clubs "LIVE" via the internet
You can do the same at home.
Simples.”
by CharlieDodd
Thursday, September 06 2012, 5:11PM
“Beats me why anybody needs Sky anyway when we can all get a couple of dozen free channels on Freeview”
by MissAnthrope
Thursday, September 06 2012, 4:15PM
“How odd to read people bigging up the EU on this forum for once. From my understanding of the case as long as the landlord only has the footy on using their own home TV they can leave the living room door open for customers to watch as well without copping the extortionate extra licence cost. As long as all the customers wear slippers. And have a cat on their lap.”
by jimjamjonny
Thursday, September 06 2012, 3:21PM
“Hermes 001 yes and the same solicitor, all pubs and clubs have the option of doing this and save a fortune, in these hard times I can't understand why they should not, were in the E U.”
by Hermes_001
Thursday, September 06 2012, 10:40AM
“Not much detail given here. Is this case similar to that of Portsmouth pub landlady Karen Murphy who used the Greek TV company Nova to show Premier League matches? She took a case to the European Court of Justice. It found partly in her favour, and he High Court in London also found in her favour last February.”
by CharlieDodd
Thursday, September 06 2012, 10:25AM
“..'magistrates dismissed the case'..
As a matter of interest why did they throw out the case? Were Sky lying through their teeth or what?”
by jimjamjonny
Thursday, September 06 2012, 9:25AM
“Great news| May be this will end people who play at the top clubs getting £250000 a week”