Premier League TV football choice 'upheld' by EU advice

Digital Fanatic · 03-02-2011, 10:39

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12355022

Quote:

Broadcasters cannot stop customers using cheaper foreign satellite TV equipment to watch Premier League football, an EU legal adviser has said.

A non-binding opinion from advocate Juliane Kokott of the European Court of Justice said a block breached EU laws.

Portsmouth pub landlady Karen Murphy, fined for using Greek decoders, had argued the EU single market should let her use any European provider.

Sky has the exclusive broadcast rights for Premier League football in the UK.

---------- Post added at 11:39 ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 ----------

This could have serious implications for Sky and ESPN

Derek · 03-02-2011, 10:42

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.

BenMcr · 03-02-2011, 10:47

What worries me is that if Sky lose the exclusive rights to the football, then they may push exclusive content much more on other channels e.g. no Sky Atlantic ever on VM etc

Digital Fanatic · 03-02-2011, 11:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenMcr

What worries me is that if Sky lose the exclusive rights to the football, then they may push exclusive content much more on other channels e.g. no Sky Atlantic ever on VM etc

This is a possibility.

spankysmagicpian · 03-02-2011, 11:42

Nah - things will just calm down Ben.

Sky paid over the odds to obtain PL football, clubs got more money, players got paid more and when the next round of bidding came up the whole cycle started again.

It's just like the housing market

**Damien** · 03-02-2011, 11:56

It won't have a massive effect on football. They may pay less but not drastically so. The smaller clubs whose dependence on the TV money is the vast majority of their income are the most likely to suffer.

one2escape · 03-02-2011, 12:01

In some aspects yes they over paid for the rights. With this "ruling" it could cause some major damage to the league itself with the rich clubs getting richer and the poorer getting poorer. A club (say Utd or Liverpool) now could set itself up in a country with rights to its matches and then charge a money to access the rights. This ruling has Sky scared.

clinteastman · 03-02-2011, 12:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenMcr

What worries me is that if Sky lose the exclusive rights to the football, then they may push exclusive content much more on other channels e.g. no Sky Atlantic ever on VM etc

Or it might go the other way, Sky Atlantic is used as a carrot to get people on there network, if the money made from that is less than say the VM payments + extra advertising revenue from the larger view figures then I'm guessing they will start to pimp it out. They would need to make up the shortfall in revenues from somewhere.

TheDon · 03-02-2011, 12:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by one2escape

In some aspects yes they over paid for the rights. With this "ruling" it could cause some major damage to the league itself with the rich clubs getting richer and the poorer getting poorer. A club (say Utd or Liverpool) now could set itself up in a country with rights to its matches and then charge a money to access the rights. This ruling has Sky scared.

No they can't.

Part of belonging to the premier league means you're part of the collective bargaining agreement, which means a club hands over ALL rights to it's games to the premier league. There is no situation in which a club can "go it alone" without first pulling out of the premier league.

What this does mean though, is a broadcaster could buy the rights in a European country cheaply, then market them in the UK, IF and only if the entire market based bidding system wasn't changed.

Instead what is FAR more likely to happen is there will be one company that holds the broadcast rights for each package in the entire EU, and then other countries can obtain the matches from them, or they can offer up channels in those areas themselves.

**Damien** · 03-02-2011, 18:54

Either way. The ruling will probably hit some smaller clubs hard if the TV revenue goes down.

sherer · 03-02-2011, 20:13

If I understand this correctly it's not a proper ruling yet just a suggestion that will be put forward to the judge in charge.

Not sure I fully understand this, I know she has used a Greek decoder to view their sat channels. The articles keep going on about Sky but has she used this to view Sky via the Greek decoder and so pay less, or is she doing what some pubs do and show 3 PM matches via other channels that are allowed to broadcast them ?

Either way I expect this to drag on for years before anything really comes of it. it as suggested it leads to pan Europe broadcasters rather than local ones then we all know really Sky have the money for that not VM

BenMcr · 03-02-2011, 20:18

She'll be watching a Greek channel that is showing the games

MartJ · 04-02-2011, 12:24

Could be interesting if the Judge agrees with the legal view that it breaks EU Laws. Murdoch versus the EU that could be fun!!!!

Arthurgray50@blu · 06-02-2011, 21:02

I think this is great news for the consumer, and that is the most important thing.

To me Sky and VM charge to much for the product of sport, l read somewhere that Sky charge Â£80.00 per month for Sport and Movies together, which is absurd.

Clubs won't suffer, as l am sure that other broadcastors will come in and offer there services, what has to happen is that the consumer has to choose, and they are the ones paying the bill.

Stuart · 06-02-2011, 22:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

To me Sky and VM charge to much for the product of sport, l read somewhere that Sky charge Â£80.00 per month for Sport and Movies together, which is absurd.

Yep, but people are clearly willing to pay it..

Quote:

Clubs won't suffer, as l am sure that other broadcastors will come in and offer there services, what has to happen is that the consumer has to choose, and they are the ones paying the bill.

Whether clubs suffer or not depends on what happens as a result of this. If Sky lose a lot of business, or a lot of cash (and bearing in mind the amount they charge public places for broadcast rates, they *do* stand to lose a lot of cash), they may not be so inclined to play so much for the rights to show any football matches in the future.

If other broadcasters were willing or able to match or beat Sky's bids, they'd have done it by now.