TWO businessmen who came up with a device which allowed thousands of people to view extra BSkyB television channels without paying have been freed after top judges cut their jail terms.

Steven Parr-Moore and Julian Crumblehulme used websites to advertise cable cubes -- devices which, when slotted into the back of a TV set's receiving box, allowed subscribers to view other channels for which they had not paid.

The pair made a profit of £6,000 after receiving 100,000 hits on their website, London's Court of Appeal heard yesterday.

They were jailed for seven months each on January 16 after pleading guilty at Stafford Crown Court to one offence each under the Computer Misuse Act of 1990.

They had run the illegal operation over a seven-month period from April to November, 1999.

Parr-Moore, aged 40, of Hough Lane, Eagley, and Crumblehulme, aged 37, of Stonesteads Way, Bromley Cross, both had their sentences reduced to four months by Appeal Court judges.

Cutting their sentences, the judge said: "The trial judge did not pay sufficient attention to the personal mitigation, particularly the guilty pleas and their previously unblemished record."