Sky Ireland has provided a boost to hard-pressed home and business finances by announcing that Sky Sports and Sky Sports extra subscription fees can be paused during the time when there is no live sport being broadcast.
Pubs across the country will be able to reduce a significant expense and homes as well will also be able to trim this one expense as they recalculate household expenses at a time when incomes are likely to fall.
It seems like an obvious call on the part of the broadcaster but the complexity of how the crisis will impact across the economy can be seen in the fact that the money is needed to meet obligations to the sporting bodies themselves.
Sport has become hugely dependent on the revenue from media and broadcasters and accommodation with fans on one side will need to be mirrored by one with sport on the other side.
Hopefully, this will be a short term measure and it is far from the most pressing concern but following the line of logic that money flows will dry up is an example of what will become ever more an important issue as the days turn to weeks and maybe longer.
Sky hopes to have the pause function available in the dashboard of subscribers online accounts in the coming days. At present, the message is to ring but with high volumes of calls that is leading to long delays.
As with so many areas of our lives, this needs patience and for those who can wait, it will be best to do so.
Image Credit: Sky Ireland / Sport for Business
