Ever been to the pub to watch the football and noticed the mysterious pint glass symbol in the corner of the TV screen?
Well, it’s not the cue for you to get another round in, nor does it mean it’s getting close to last orders at the bar. TikTok user Ali Silk shared her discovery while watching a live match with her pals, pondering, “Who knew this?”
Her post enlightened many when she divulged: “I just found out that apparently that thing on the screen isn’t for when you need to change the batteries in the remote.” After clarifying with her friends, she told her followers: “It’s to show the pub has a licence to show football. So I was wrong!”
As seen in the response to her clip, one person explained: “It tells Sky investigators, who do spot checks, that the pub has a valid pub contract and not a residential contract. Sky charge pubs way more than residential, like 1000s per month.”
Another contributory detail by someone else was: “It also changes randomly from game to game (half full etc) so an inspector could spot a fake watermark.”
A third person noted: “Every now and then part of the subscription/viewing card number gets displayed as well to catch out those sharing.” Whilst a fourth TikTok user, speaking from a professional background, commented: “I used to sell it to pubs all over the country. I ran a sales team for Sky Business – some pubs [pay] £5k a month.”
Elsewhere in the comments section, an individual shared a story about their local boozer getting in trouble with the law, as they recalled: “There was a place up here years ago that got caught illegally showing football… they had painted the pint on the screen with Tipp-ex to trick undercover investigators! ”
Meanwhile, a pub waitress, who had fallen for a false pint glass explanation in the past, admitted: “On my first day a customer told me it was when the landlord was doing happy hour two for one on pints… and I believed them.”
Sky explains on the Fighting Fraud section of its website: “We take illegal use of our programming very seriously because it’s important to ensure our legitimate Sky subscribers are not left short changed. The only legal way to show Sky Sports programming in Licensed premises in mainland UK is through a valid commercial viewing agreement from Sky Business.
“Legitimate Sky Business commercial subscribers will see a pint glass icon appear on their TV screen from time-to-time. The lack of this can reveal who is ‐ and most importantly, who is not ‐ showing Sky legally.”