davieG Posted 4 October 2011 Posted 4 October 2011 BBC A pub landlady has won the latest stage of her fight to air Premier League games using a foreign TV decoder. Karen Murphy had to pay nearly £8,000 in fines and costs for using a cheaper Greek decoder in her Portsmouth pub to bypass controls over match screening. But she took her case to the European Court of Justice. The ECJ now says national laws which prohibit the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards are contrary to the freedom to provide services. 'Relief'It said national legislation, which banned the use of overseas decoders, could not "be justified either in light of the objective of protecting intellectual property rights or by the objective of encouraging the public to attend football stadiums". "She's overwhelmed with relief at the moment," Mrs Murphy's lawyer, Paul Dixon, told BBC Radio Solent. "It's been a long road for her but she's delighted to be getting the case back to the High Court now in London where it will be finalised, before very long we hope. "It will mean increased competition in the broadcast market that's for sure." The ECJ findings will now go to the High Court in London, which had sent the matter to the ECJ for guidance, for a final ruling. However, it is unusual for a member state High Court to pass a different judgment to one provided by the ECJ. 'Contingency plans'The decision could trigger a major shake-up for the Premier League and its current exclusive agreements with Sky Sports and ESPN, and pave the way to cheaper viewing for fans of top-flight English games. "In practical terms, the Premier League will now have to decide how it wishes to re-tender its rights," said sports media lawyer Daniel Geey of Field Fisher Waterhouse solicitors. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote On the face of it, it looks like a blow for the Premier League and... broadcasters Sky and ESPN” David BondBBC sport editor"There can be little doubt it will have contingency plans ready to go and has various options available. "Be it a pan-EU tender, selling in only certain EU member states or devising a plan to start its own channel, they will be deciding how best to maximise the value of their product to ensure any revenue shortfall is minimised." The judges said the Premier League could not claim copyright over Premier League matches as they could not considered to be an author's own "intellectual creation" and, therefore, to be "works" for the purposes of EU copyright law. However, the ECJ did add that while live matches were not protected by copyright, any surrounding media, such as any opening video sequence, the Premier League anthem, pre-recorded films showing highlights of recent Premier League matches and various graphics, were "works" protected by copyright. To use any of these parts of a broadcast, a pub would need the permission of the Premier League. 'Major blow'"On the face of it, it looks like a blow for the Premier League and... broadcasters Sky and ESPN," said BBC sport editor David Bond. He said the Premier League had faced many regulatory challenges in the past and would find ways to get round the new situation. Sky has pumped billions into top flight English football since the league was founded in 1992, with the money given to clubs allowing them to buy some of the top names in the world. Our correspondent said that would not necessarily change, given the huge value of other deals. The Premier League's television income from mainland Europe is about £130m, less than 10% of their total £1.4bn overseas rights deal. But he warned that it could have significant repercussions for other rights holders outside of sport, with life potentially getting more difficult for the film industry, which also sells its product on an country-by-country basis. Satellite signalsThe legal battle kicked off six years ago, when Ms Murphy was taken to court for using the Nova firm to show matches at the Red, White and Blue pub. Using the Greek service, she had paid £118 a month, rather than £480 a month with the official broadcaster. Licensed broadcasters encrypt satellite signals, with subscribers needing a decoder card to access them. Ms Murphy took advantage of an offer to UK pubs to use imported cards. In February, an ECJ advocate general said this was in line with the aims of the EU single market - a border-free zone for goods and services. The Premier League has already taken action against two suppliers of foreign satellite equipment and a group of pub landlords who used imported decoding equipment to show English Premier League games and avoided the commercial premises subscription fees for Sky.
davieG Posted 4 October 2011 Author Posted 4 October 2011 It'll be interesting to see what the fall out from this is.
Super_horns Posted 4 October 2011 Posted 4 October 2011 Probably not good for the lower leagues clubs near Premiership clubs but might bring a bit of reality to football clubs and the money they spend.
davieG Posted 4 October 2011 Author Posted 4 October 2011 Foxblogger's view of it - http://foxblogger.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/what-does-the-eu-ruling-mean-for-saturday-3-p-m-kick-offs/?
lcfc_sam_p Posted 4 October 2011 Posted 4 October 2011 This is much better for pub landlords. A local pub has just changed from sky to some viasat tv, a saving of 14k a year and 3pm games.
Ozwin Posted 4 October 2011 Posted 4 October 2011 There was this bar in Yarmouth that had some French sports channel, was well good and presumably cheaper.
accessory Posted 4 October 2011 Posted 4 October 2011 The days of Sky holding pubs to ransom will disappear. That's no bad thing. With beer prices shooting up, many licensed premises could do without having to bend over for Uncle Rupert.
sphericalfox Posted 4 October 2011 Posted 4 October 2011 The days of Sky holding pubs to ransom will disappear. That's no bad thing. With beer prices shooting up, many licensed premises could do without having to bend over for Uncle Rupert. For me the future will be online, and the rights sold individually to betting organisations, as is slowly occurring. No doubt SkyBet will want to get ahead of the game. Rupert wouldn't like anything but.
Dylan Posted 4 October 2011 Posted 4 October 2011 Pretty sure the Premier League will find their way around this somehow.
davieG Posted 24 February 2012 Author Posted 24 February 2012 Not sure where this leaves Sky. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17150054 A pub landlady has won her court fight with the English Premier League over using a Greek TV decoder to screen games. Karen Murphy has paid nearly £8,000 in fines and costs for using the cheaper decoder in her Portsmouth pub to bypass controls over match screening. But she took her case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). It found partly in her favour, and now the High Court in London has also found in her favour. The case has been closely watched as it could trigger a major shake-up in the way football TV rights are sold, and potentially pave the way to cheaper viewing of foreign broadcasts for fans of top-flight English games. Bypass Ms Murphy has spent six years fighting a prosecution for showing live football at the Red White and Blue pub without a Sky subscription. Instead of using Sky, on which it costs £700 a month to see Premier League matches, she used the Greek TV station Nova, which has the rights to screen the games in Greece, and which cost her £800 a year. She took her fight for the right to use the cheaper provider to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which ruled in October 2011 that having an exclusive system was "contrary to EU law". The High Court in London on Friday ruled that Karen Murphy's appeal over using the decoder to bypass controls over match screening must be allowed. But a judge made clear that the other complex issues regarding the wider legality of screening matches would have to be decided "at a later date". Ms Murphy told BBC Radio Solent before the hearing that it had been a long, hard fight: "It's been very stressful, it's been a rollercoaster and to be honest now I'm absolutely fed up to the back teeth of it. "I hope at some time in the not too distant future the market will be opened up to a reasonable choice of product to buy. "As I've said before, you can have any other product and you have a choice of buying any other product, and that's the way it should be." She told the reporter she would be celebrating the win with a bottle of Sambuca. Freedom The High Court had originally sent the case to the European courts for advice on numerous points of law. The ECJ said last autumn that national laws that prohibit the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards were contrary to the freedom to provide services. The European judges also said the Premier League could not claim copyright over Premier League matches as they could not be considered to be an author's own "intellectual creation" and, therefore, to be "works" for the purposes of EU copyright law. But it did offer some comfort for the Premier League, which receives vast sums through its exclusive broadcasting deals with Sky and ESPN. The European court said that while live matches were not protected by copyright, any surrounding media, such as any opening video sequence, the Premier League anthem, pre-recorded films showing highlights of recent Premier League matches and various graphics, were "works" protected by copyright. To use any of these extra parts associated for a broadcast, a pub would need the permission of the Premier League.
Mack Posted 24 February 2012 Posted 24 February 2012 They will keep bringing cases against her and moreover the use of foreign providers until one sticks. I hope she has deep pockets.
accessory Posted 24 February 2012 Posted 24 February 2012 But quite a lot of pubs have and use these decoders - virtually all of the ones in Norwich city centre, for example. She won't be on her own in fighting this battle.
adam1 Posted 24 February 2012 Posted 24 February 2012 Ipkat have blogged on this. So if a) you like pictures of cats or b) want a perspective from legal professionals see the links below. Latest here Previous here
HEGGSY Posted 24 February 2012 Posted 24 February 2012 Pretty sure the Premier League will find their way around this somehow. Nah, nothing they can do.
davieG Posted 24 February 2012 Author Posted 24 February 2012 Nah, nothing they can do. Well there is because I'm sure the stream stuff includes Sky's preamble and half-time/full time waffle so unless they can get the source of the stream to blank those parts out then it will still be illegal and as they are 'standard TV' streams I can't see that happening in fact the PL may make it a condition that they can not show or stream it without the Sky add on.
stix Posted 24 February 2012 Posted 24 February 2012 Well there is because I'm sure the stream stuff includes Sky's preamble and half-time/full time waffle so unless they can get the source of the stream to blank those parts out then it will still be illegal and as they are 'standard TV' streams I can't see that happening in fact the PL may make it a condition that they can not show or stream it without the Sky add on. Alot of the time these european streams have their own show, that countrys version of sky sports if you like. So i dont think that would be much of an issue.
davieG Posted 24 February 2012 Author Posted 24 February 2012 Alot of the time these european streams have their own show, that countrys version of sky sports if you like. So i dont think that would be much of an issue. Ah ok, never watched one so thanks for the info.
Mack Posted 24 February 2012 Posted 24 February 2012 Sky's entire business model is built around Premier League football. You can be sure they will do everything to stamp this out. Imagine the sort of heavyweight lawyers and finances they can bring to fight this, it wont end nicely.
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