PUBS are warning they could be forced to stop showing football thanks to Labour’s business rates raid.
Sports channels like Sky and TNT set their prices in line with a venue’s rateable value, which is used to calculate business rates.
Landlords have said a shake-up to the property tax, which was announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her November Budget, would push up subscription fees for sports channels by thousands of pounds a year.
Reeves has faced huge backlash from pubs after revealing changes that will lead to eye-watering business rates hikes, on top of minimum wage and National Insurance increases.
However, Labour has promised it will announce a support package for pubs – but not other hospitality business like hotels – in the coming weeks.
Paul Sandford, a landlord at the Railway Tavern in Dereham, Norfolk, said the total yearly costs of his Sky and TNT subscriptions would go up by an estimated £7,200 this year due to the rates change.
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“We wouldn’t be able to pass it on to the customer, so we wouldn’t be able to show it,” he told The Telegraph.
Campaign for Pubs spokesman Greg Mulholland added: “If the revaluation goes ahead, already expensive sport TV costs will rise yet further, piling even more costs on pubs during this cost-of-living crisis.”
Some pubs are facing increases to their rateable value of as much as 2,000%, which will drive up business rates by thousands of pounds.
Business rates relief, which was brought in during the pandemic and is currently 40%, will also end in April adding to landlords’ misery.
A Sky spokesman said: “Rateable value is one of many considerations that inform our pricing decisions. Our pricing reflects the unmissable experience and line-up of content that adds value to our customers’ businesses.”
The Sun approached TNT for comment.