With the start of the new Premier League season, three weeks away pub companies and landlords must decide whether to renew their Sky and BT subscriptions.
However, there is a growing focus on the eating out market and it seems that many landlords and pub groups regard screening live sport not just as increasingly expensive but a hindrance to attracting their target audiences of 40-somethings, females and families.
With the start of the new Premier League season, three weeks away pub companies and landlords must decide whether to renew their Sky and BT subscriptions.
However, there is a growing focus on the eating out market and it seems that many landlords and pub groups regard screening live sport not just as increasingly expensive but a hindrance to attracting their target audiences of 40-somethings, females and families.
Sport can be a noisy distraction for customers. Up market gastropubs have never shown it, but this stance may be spreading to mid market pubs. Many people now have large television screens at home and they can buy in cheaper drinks from supermarkets.
Surveys by the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers show that the proportion of pub landlords with a sports subscription is in steady decline. In 2003 it was 51 per cent, but last season it had fallen back to 37 per cent.
With subscription costs averaging £15,000 a year and rising 5 per cent next week, landlords are finding it harder to make the numbers stack up. Of course, this could give BT an opportunity to make a discounted offer.
Nevertheless, Sky’s revenues from pubs rose by 4 per cent last year, with an increased number of outlets. This could reflect landlords switching to purchasing a licence because of the number of them being prosecuted for showing live matches on satellite feeds.
Pubs have been a vital component of the Sky business model since the launch of the Premier League two decades ago. Sky earns up to £300m a year from subscriptions from pubs and clubs.