Sky pegs price increase at 5%, commits to lowest RV values: Sky will increase its prices for on-trade customers by a maximum of 5%, but will apply this to lower rateable values (RV) when calculating bills for the next 12 months. The move means that some bills will go down at premises when RV has been reduced and will be applied to old rateable values when this has been increased under updated valuations: A Sky source told Propel: “We have taken our time to work out the implications of new business rates valuations. We have now committed to using lower rateable values when working out bills – we are going to use the lower of the two rateable values. If a rateable value has gone down, we will use that, if it has gone up we’ll use the old one. (We) hope this will be really good news to people. Separately, as a result of our continued investment in the best content, products and support to help pubs make money with Sky, we’re increasing our prices by 5% from 1 August. However as a result of our RV commitment, no pub or club’s bill will rise by more than 5%, and many bills will go down. We continue to invest in giving Sky customers an outstanding live sport experience that makes them money. We’ve got the best sport content, including 126 Premier League games, the British and Irish Lions Tour, all 20 F1 Grand Prix, more hours of cricket than ever before, with every England home Test, and much more to name but a few highlights. Plus with free extra Sky boxes, pubs can make the most of Sky’s live sports content and appeal to more people by showing several live events at the same time. We aim to help our customers drive the maximum footfall and make more money throughout the year. We do this by providing unrivalled support such as Sky Sports Preview Magazine, fixture posters and a dedicated customer website, Myskysports.com. We know that every business is different and we’ve created a range of discounts that help to ensure the price our customers pay for Sky reflects their individual business. This includes money off relating to location, food and outdoor areas, and teaming up with partners such as Molson Coors to help save even more money off a Sky bill. Plus we provide our Wi-Fi service free-of-charge to Sky Sports customers, saving £35 on the monthly rate-card price. We invest where it matters for our customers so that Sky will continue to make them money. As we invest more, and the cost of sports rights to Sky continues to increase, we review our pricing like all businesses do. But we absorb what we can to ensure Sky remains an investment that pays back to our customers. Our strategy is always to ensure that Sky offers the best value and drives revenue, investing in the best content, services and unrivalled support as we work hard to remain the number one entertainment choice for pubs. Because we have committed to using the lower of the two RVs when calculating existing customers’ bills for the next 12 months, many bills will go down and no pub or club’s bill will rise by more than 5%.” David Rey, Sky Business managing director, said: “We know licensed premises are facing cost uncertainties and we want to help them manage that as well as ensure that Sky pays back for everyone.  The government’s changes in RV from 2010 to 2017 were no small part of this, and we want to put customers first so that they can depend on their investment in Sky. So from August 1 for existing customers, we will be using the lower of the two RVs when calculating bills for the next 12 months. We continually invest in giving Sky customers an outstanding live sport experience that makes them money. We’ve got the best live sport content, unrivalled support to help pubs make money, and a range of discounts that help to ensure the price our customers pay for Sky reflects their individual business. As we invest more and sports rights costs to Sky rise too, we must also review our pricing like all businesses do. But we absorb what we can. This year, no pub or club’s bill will rise by more than 5%, and many bills will go down as we commit to using the lower of the two RVs when calculating bills for the next 12 months.There’s never been a better time to make money with Sky as we look ahead to a brilliant new season.” Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) chief executive Kate Nicholls said: “Sky has taken into account spiralling rates costs for pubs and listened to our concerns about increasing rateable value. The decision to use lower rateable values will mean that no pub will face a repeat of previous double whammy increases at a time when their rates bills are going up and margins tightening. Addressing increases in RV and spiralling rates bills has been a key focus of the ALMR’s campaigning over the past 18 months.This will help to offset some of the costs that continue to increase for eating and drinking out businesses, but this rise is still well above inflation at a time when supply chain pressures are increasing and economic and consumer confidence is uncertain. The use of lower rateable values is welcome, but businesses will have to think hard about whether they can afford another price hike on top of considerable property and wage costs.”