If you've ever watched football or any other live Sky Sports event in a pub, you might have noticed a small pint glass logo displayed on the bottom right corner of the screen.
Some people find it annoying, others are curious about what it means. A few are too drunk to notice it at all. But if you're one of those who want to know what it's doing there, here's the answer.
Pubs, clubs or any public venue needs a different license in order to legally show Sky Sports. It costs more than your home package, and some landlords don't like that.
So to try to avoid paying extra, some venues were just getting a normal home subscription to Sky Sports instead. Which is very naughty.
Obviously Sky weren't too happy with that, so they added the pint glass logo to the screen on Sky Business commercial pictures. Then they started to send inspectors out into the pubs to check.
If the inspectors saw that the venue was showing Sky Sports but didn't have the logo on the screen, then it was obvious they weren't licensed.
Some pub owners and landlords got wind of what Sky inspectors were doing, but decided they still didn't want to pay for their commercial licenses. So instead, they started putting stickers of the pint glass logos on their TV screens to try to trick the inspectors.
For a while, this worked. Because the inspectors weren't exactly going to go up and start picking at the TV screen, otherwise it would be obvious what they were doing and they'd reveal their identity - and quickly get barred from the premises.
So instead, Sky decided to vary the colour or size of the logo, or make the glass half full (or half empty depending on your perspective) from time to time.
Only the inspectors would know for sure what the logo was meant to look like each day. So if a venue was using a sticker and it didn't match, they got caught out.
So now you know what the pint glass logo is for and why Sky decided to introduce it.
The moral of the story is, if you're showing live sport in a public place, make sure you buy a license! Because Sky Sports are pretty clever and if you don't, they will do whatever it takes to catch you eventually...
Last Updated April 21, 2021
