NFR - Landlady in Portsmouth beats Sky in legal case

[King_Crud]

Just heard on Sky News that that landlady in Portsmouth who was showing football from a Greek subscription in her pub has won her case. The EU has ruled that you can show from a foreign source if you have a foreign subscription.

I wonder what will happen now?

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Not the best financial news for Fulham, but in the long run this is a very positive thing.

Well done to the lady who took them to court! Another bloody nose to the murdoch empire!

[FC Silver Fox]

The UK signed the Treaty of Rome stipulating freedom of movement of goods and services between member EU countries. Why are they so surprised this applies to TV services?

[EricB]

So if Virgin Media or freeview want to resell the same channel, will they be allowed? if not why not .........it would change the pricing structure of TV football for a while............untill Sky insist that the PL do not seel their product to anyone else in EU

[epsomraver]

Last time I looked Greece was in the EU, at the moment dragging Euroland and us down with it.

[Burt]

Wow...this could have far-reaching implications for football finance.

[Burt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15162241

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.

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".

A spokesman for Mrs Murphy said she was "overwhelmed with relief" and looking forward to getting the case back to the High Court.

"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.

The decision could trigger a major shake-up for the Premier League and its current exclusive agreements with Sky Sports and ESPN.

"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.

"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.

"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.

Karen Murphy used the Greek firm Nova to show Premier League games 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.

The 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.

[King_Crud]

3pm games to be shown? When i lived in Dublin the pub across the road had a feed from Norway

[sipwell]

 
Premier League loses TV court battle
By Simon Taylor
04.10.2011 / 11:40 CET
European Court of Justice says broadcasting rights are not compatible with EU law.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that English Premier League football broadcasting rights are not compatible with EU law.

The ruling is a victory for the owners of British pubs who had been buying television satellite decoder cards from Greece and using them to show Premier League matches.

The Football Association Premier League (FAPL), which runs the Premier League and deals with television broadcasting rights, had brought legal proceedings against pubs that screened games using Greek decoder cards. The cards are cheaper than those sold in the UK by Sky, which has the broadcasting rights for Premier League matches in the UK.

The ECJ ruled that national legislation outlawing the import or sale of foreign decoder cards broke rules on the freedom to provide services. It also ruled that the ban could not be justified by the requirement to protect intellectual property rights.

The ECJ said the FAPL cannot claim copyright over Premier League matches as sporting events cannot be considered an author's "intellectual creation".

According to the ECJ, under EU competition law, a rights-holder is entitled to grant the exclusive right to broadcast protected subject-matter by satellite to a sole licensee. But, the ECJ said, such agreements must not prevent broadcasters from providing cross-border services because that would give each broadcaster territorial exclusivity, which would remove competition between broadcasters and break EU competition law.

The FAPL won on one minor aspect of its challenge. The ECJ ruled that parts of broadcasts, such as the Premier League anthem and some graphics, were covered by copyright law and that the FAPL had to give its permission before they could be shown.

http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2011/october/premier-league-loses-tv-court-battle/72179.aspx

[AlFayedsChequebook]

No wonder the murdoch owned right wing papers want us out of Europe!

[sipwell]

No wonder the murdoch owned right wing papers want us out of Europe!

Doubt that would change a lot really. UK wants out of the political and social union but not out of the economical union. Applying for the same status as Switzerland or Norway doesn't mean you don't have to accept the directives of the EU if you want to trade within the EU. It just means that you have a choice, but a choice that works both ways (restrictions, inability to import certain goods, etc.).

[AlFayedsChequebook]

No wonder the murdoch owned right wing papers want us out of Europe!

Doubt that would change a lot really. UK wants out of the political and social union but not out of the economical union. Applying for the same status as Switzerland or Norway doesn't mean you don't have to accept the directives of the EU if you want to trade within the EU. It just means that you have a choice, but a choice that works both ways (restrictions, inability to import certain goods, etc.).

I wouldn't say the UK wants out of the political and social union, I would say that certain people in the UK want out.

[sipwell]

No wonder the murdoch owned right wing papers want us out of Europe!

Doubt that would change a lot really. UK wants out of the political and social union but not out of the economical union. Applying for the same status as Switzerland or Norway doesn't mean you don't have to accept the directives of the EU if you want to trade within the EU. It just means that you have a choice, but a choice that works both ways (restrictions, inability to import certain goods, etc.).

I wouldn't say the UK wants out of the political and social union, I would say that certain people in the UK want out.

Hehe. True! :)

[White Noise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/04/premier-league-tv-coverage?newsfeed=true



Premier League fans can buy cheap foreign TV coverage, EU rules


• European Union's highest court rules it is not illegal for football fans to buy set-top box decoder cards from foreign broadcasters

• Ruling could have huge impact on the way BSkyB and other broadcasters buy rights to sport, movies and foreign TV shows



Mark Sweney guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 4 October 2011 09.35 BST Article history


Arsenal's Theo Walcott and Fulham's Matthew Briggs battle for the ball at a Premier League match at Craven Cottage, London. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA


Football fans will potentially be able to watch cut-price Premier League matches, after the European Union's highest court ruled on Tuesday that it is not illegal for individuals to buy set-top box decoder cards from foreign broadcasters.


The European court of justice ruled that the FA Premier League cannot stop individuals from seeking better deals for TV sports subscriptions than that offered by BSkyB – which paid more than £1bn for the UK broadcast rights for Premier League matches – from foreign broadcasters.


The ECJ said attempting to prohibit the "import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards is contrary to the freedom to provide services and cannot 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".


However, the court ruled against the bid by Karen Murphy, the landlady of the Red, White and Blue pub in Portsmouth, to be allowed to use a Greek decoder card to show live Premier League matches to pubgoers at much cheaper rates than BSkyB charges commercial premises in the UK on copyright grounds.


The ECJ said the transmission in a pub is a "communication to the public", which means that without the permission of the Premier League Murphy is in breach of the copyright directive. This directive would not stop individuals buying foreign decoder cards for domestic use.


However, the ECJ said live match coverage itself was not covered by copyright protection, although the Premier League could claim ownership of FAPL-branded opening video sequences, theme music, on-screen graphics and highlights of previous matches.


This means that as long as the FAPL and BSkyB ensure that match coverage includes enough copyright elements pubs will not be allowed to show foreign broadcasts.


The Premier League, which sells TV rights exclusively to broadcasters across Europe on a territory-by-territory basis, has been clamping down on British pubs buying in live coverage from foreign broadcasters.


The ECJ ruling could potentially have a huge impact on the way BSkyB and other UK and European broadcasters buy rights to sport, films and foreign TV shows. Sky's share price was down by just over 3% to 635.50p at about 9.20am on Tuesday, as the City reacted to the European ruling.


BSkyB makes about £200m a year in revenue from selling subscriptions to pubs and other commercial premises.


The broadcaster has about 44,000 pub, club and office subscribers. It is thought that pub owners like Murphy pay about £1,000 a month for a BSkyB subscription. Murphy slashed these costs by buying a Greek decoder card and a subscription to Nova reportedly at a cost of about £800 a year.


"This is a clear statement from Europe that intellectual property rights cannot be relied upon to fragment the market and charge different prices in different EU countries for the same content," said Toby Headdon, an intellectual property lawyer at Berwin Leighton Paisner. "The decision looks set to change the licensing landscape in Europe, not just for football broadcasts but potentially for other content such as films and music."


The ECJ also opened the door for the dismantling of the FAPL's country-specific sports rights regime, stating that such a system of selling matches to broadcasters is "irreconcilable" with the aim of EU law to create one internal market.


"Payment by the television stations of a premium in order to ensure themselves absolute territorial exclusivity goes beyond what is necessary to ensure the right holders appropriate remuneration," the ECJ said in its ruling. "Such a practice may result in artificial price differences between the partitioned national markets. Such partitioning and such an artificial price difference are irreconcilable with the fundamental aim of the treaty, which is completion of the internal market."


The ruling could force the FAPL to look to sell its broadcast rights as a pan-European TV deal, most probably to Sky, although it could look to limit sales to some European markets.


The Premier League will make more than £1.6bn in the UK from its current three-year deal with BSkyB and has a separate deal in this country for live match coverage with ESPN, along with a highlights deal with the BBC for Match of the Day.


The Premier League is believed to have made well in excess of £1bn in TV deals outside the UK for rights covering 2010 to 2013, almost double the £625m made under the previous deal period, with the popularity of the top English division booming in territories including the Middle East, north Africa, Hong Kong and Singapore.


No figures are given for Europe, but it is understood that France, Scandinavia and Germany are the most lucrative markets for Premier League rights.


The Premier League said in a statement: "The areas of law involved are complicated and necessarily we will take our time to digest and understand the full meaning of the judgment and how it might influence the future sale of Premier League audio-visual rights in the European Economic Area.


"We are pleased that the judgment makes it clear that the screening in a pub of football-match broadcasts containing protected works requires the Premier League's authorisation. Currently only Sky and ESPN are authorised by the Premier League to make such broadcasts.


"The Premier League will continue to sell its audio-visual rights in a way that best meets the needs of our fans across Europe and the broadcast markets that serve them but is also compatible with European Law."


A BSkyB spokesman said: "This is a case about the licensing arrangements of bodies like the Premier League. It will have implications for how rights are sold across Europe in future, which we are considering. As a broadcaster, it will remain our aim to secure high-quality content for our customers based on the rights available to us."

The UK high court of justice will now make the final decision applying this ruling to the actual case of Karen Murphy, but the ECJ's decision is final and cannot be appealed against.


Europe's commissioner for the digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, vowed to sort out confusion surrounding cross-border access to film, music and pay-per-view football games.


In a speech prepared before the verdict backing Murphy, she told a thinktank audience that "invisible barriers" remained in the distance-selling of "digital goods".


She went on: "If I can buy a music CD online from a company in the Netherlands and have it posted to me here in Belgium, why can't I buy a digital download from the same company?


"If I can watch my local team's football matches using online pay-per-view in one member state, why not in 27?


"This situation does not make much sense to the man on the street. To be honest, it is not a situation that makes much sense to me. And we need to fix it."