Live football on Sky Sports free....

but only if staff ‘press the wrong button’

A LANDLORD who illegally showed live Sky football matches in his pub has blamed the mistake on someone “pushing the wrong button.”

Paul Hartley of The Dog Inn, Block Lane, Chadderton, faced three counts of showing Premier League games without paying the commercial subscription at Oldham Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Last November an investigator saw a Sky broadcast in the pub and Hartley was sent a warning letter

In January, February and March investigators for Sky visited again — Sky soccer was on the screen each time.

Hartley — who should have been paying £1,268 a month for a commercial subscription — claimed a member of staff had switched on Sky in error. Hartley told the court: “Those few days when it happened I was away and the person in charge pressed the wrong button on the TV.”

He pleaded guilty to dishonestly receiving the channel and was told to pay back £1,268 and £1,015 in costs.

The case comes less than a week after the licensee at the Highfield pub in Moorside was fined £3,500 for a similar offence.

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