I too think that it is a huge shame that pubs are becoming less friendly towards, or accommodating of, musicians playing in them. It sounds to me as if this pub has changed hands and the new people aren't interested - nothing you can do about it, except find somewhere else to play.

However, whilst I agree that it seems rude to have the TV on while you and the other musicians are playing (I presume it is just a casual session, where an unspecified number of people turn up and play), if you haven't been specifically asked to go in there, on a particular night etc in order to do that, the punters might well think of it as 'how rude of them to play, while we are trying to watch telly'. It's a sign of the times, I'm afriad.

On the othe rhand, I recall wandering around the streets of Wells (in Somerset) one night, with a friend and being delighted to catch to strains of a fiddle or two on the night air. We were on holiday for the weekend, so not familiar with the town. Finding the pub from which it was coming, we got drinks and proceeded to go and stand to listen to them. They glared at us - almost as if we had interrupted a private conversation or rehearsal, eventually making us feel so uncomfortable, that we went and sat outside, on the patio, and just left the door ajar (as we'd found it) so we could hear them.

One of them actually came and shut the door on us!

I'm not suggesting for one minute that your session members would have behaved in this manner, but sometimes, people don't do themselves any favours, in terms of garnering sympathy...