I've always wondered why there isn't (or maybe there is?) a black market for a wee box that takes the Sky box video output and overlays a pint glass icon in the corner.
But I didn't know until this article that the pint glass volume and colour changes each day; that would make it a lot tougher. Plus I guess the pint glass isn't always shown, e.g. during adverts.
Then it'd broadcast that information to the other wee boxes that would have 3G and will always overlay the "right pint".
The cost of Sky pub subscription is €1,224 (about $1314.65).. I think you can go wild on the box's features and still be cheaper than a one month subscription.
That could be interesting..
Oh, the publicans have to pay you, of course, a subscription for your subscription avoiding scheme.. You could send inspectors to verify the box is operating properly, and have a drink with Sky's inspectors.
The suggestion is for an illegal device, no need for licenses in that case ;)
The easiest way would be to extract the pint glass graphic over the wire (sitting in middle of the HDMI cable the set top box to the TV) then transmitting that to other establishments and overlaying that graphic in between the set top box and the TV (the best bit is that you wouldn't even need to decrypt the video, just overlay the graphic).
Probably a little harder when you're in a crowded, bar with low illumination and TV hung from the ceiling. Maybe that was enough for the hack to work.