Neil Doncaster vows to catch 'licence dodgers' in illegal streaming crackdown as SPFL get tough with lifetime bans

SPFL has hit out at licensed premises as they attempt to stamp out illegal streaming of football across the country.

Throughout the season the Sky and the Scottish Professional Football League have teamed up to target pubs and clubs who continue to show games without paying for a Sky Sports subscription. A number of legal actions have been raised in the Court of Session in Edinburgh against establishments and as a result a number have led to temporary injunctions on showing games without purchasing Sky.

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster welcomed the news today after several licensed premises were handed permanent bans on showing unauthorised broadcasts of Premiership games. Doncaster insisted the SPFL, alongside Sky, will "track down" firms who don't pay for Sky and show games. He added: "Today’s announcement underlines the effectiveness of our nationwide detection and enforcement campaign, which tracks down those who try to dodge their responsibilities, by showing our games without paying for them.

"Working together with our partners at Sky, we are relentless in pursuing legal action against those who seek to show SPFL games without the proper licenses in place.

"The overwhelming majority of responsible licensees recognise the enormous benefits of showing our games on their premises and do the right thing by paying for the privilege. It’s entirely unfair to them if others are allowed to get away without paying and today’s announcement underlines our determination to track down the license-dodgers and make them pay.”

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