Premier League TV football choice 'upheld' by EU advice

[Sirius]

It will be interesting to see how Sky handle this.

[gazzae]

If this does get upheld then what we will see, when the rights come up for renewal again, is the Greek broadcasters having to pay a lot more than they do now and as such having to increase the cost of their commercial packages.

[sherer]

well lets wait till the court case actually finishes before jumping to conclusions. With this being the EU I can see it taking years for anything to happen anyway

[Derek]

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.

[denphone]

Thats good news as Sky's charges are a absolute rip off.

I'd love to think this is a great big middle finger to the football mafia but I expect they'll manage to find a way round it.

One thing that already sticks out in the ruling is that the screening of the actual live game should be allowed, but any associated copyrighted material such as packaged highlights, music or graphics belonging to the Premier League could not be shown without permission from the Premier League as copyright holder - permission they would no doubt refuse to give if asked.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by Derek

Is the bubble about to burst?

Sky have been being more forceful recently with pubs where I work starting legal action as more and more of them turn to foreign channels for coverage instead of forking out thousands each month to Sky.

According to this article pubs still can't use foreign decoders

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...redirect=false

Originally Posted by muppetman11

According to this article pubs still can't use foreign decoders

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...redirect=false

That's not quite what the article says. The nub of the issue is this:

Originally Posted by Grauniad

The ECJ said the transmission in a pub is a "communication to the public", which means that without the permission of the FA 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.

If the pub can ensure that only the actual live footy is shown - presumably by switching on for the start of the match and switching off at half time and at full time - then it avoids copyright infringement. However the Premier League may attempt to make it impossibly difficult for the pub by, for example, occasionally slapping its logo (which is a copyrighted work) across the screen.

Shenanigans will ensue however it pans out. But those of you who subscribe to Sky Sports at home for the football should not lose sight of the major victory scored on your behalf today - it is henceforth perfectly legal to subscribe to a foreign broadcaster and watch your favourite team playing on a service other than Sky.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by Chris

That's not quite what the article says. The nub of the issue is this:




If the pub can ensure that only the actual live footy is shown - presumably by switching on for the start of the match and switching off at half time and at full time - then it avoids copyright infringement. However the Premier League may attempt to make it impossibly difficult for the pub by, for example, occasionally slapping its logo (which is a copyrighted work) across the screen.

Shenanigans will ensue however it pans out. But those of you who subscribe to Sky Sports at home for the football should not lose sight of the major victory scored on your behalf today - it is henceforth perfectly legal to subscribe to a foreign broadcaster and watch your favourite team playing on a service other than Sky.

Fully agree Chris but still can't see many wanting a 60-100 cm dish on their house with Russian commentary.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Full agree Chris but still can't see many wanting a 60-100 cm dish on their house

Apart from the master and his row of houses.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by denphone

Apart from the master and his row of houses.

If this can be extended to other channels i don't have a problem having that size a dish in my garden, I am not over looked

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...age?intcmp=239

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".

Excellent! The way these media providers artificially impose geographic restrictions is an antiquated system.

[Russ]

At a guess, Sky say it will affect profits which will mean they'll pass the extra costs on to Joe Public.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Fully agree Chris but still can't see many wanting a 60-100 cm dish on their house with Russian commentary.

80cm will pick up all the channels you need unless you live in the furthest parts of Scotland, and isn't really that big. And 90+% of matches have an English commentary soundtrack.

[muppetman11]

Originally Posted by TheDon

80cm will pick up all the channels you need unless you live in the furthest parts of Scotland, and isn't really that big. And 90+% of matches have an English commentary soundtrack.

Agreed but its hardly cheap , Tring is about the cheapest and that's 180.00 ish with rubbish pq.