Sky cuts pub prices for some

net1

Sky has been quietly trying to sell its premium football service at "tactical" discount rates to selected pubs.

A spokesman for the satellite broadcaster confirmed that some publican customers had been offered discounts of up to 50% to the full-season subscription rate for the Prem Plus service.

"We make offers available on a tactical basis from time to time ... as a reflection of the fact that the season is under way," he added.

About a third of Premiership games have been played, but reports in the Morning Advertiser, the pub trade paper, cite several publicans who had been offered 50% discounts in recent weeks.

Over the summer, Sky announced that the cost of Prem Plus would rise from an average of just under £400 to about £1,500. This month the company admitted this had led to a 30% decline in the number of publicans signing up.