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Premiership Bubble About To Pop?


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Could be interesting if she wins her case. The EPL/Sky should be worried.

 

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

 

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 and ESPN have the broadcast rights to Premier League football in the UK.

 

The satellite broadcaster 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.

 

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will make a ruling on the matter later this year.

 

'Damage interests'

It also says it "would damage the interests of broadcasters and viewers of Premier League football across the EU"

 

They said they hoped the ECJ would uphold current European law, which the league said was "framed to help promote, celebrate and develop the cultural differences within the EU".

 

The Premier League also said that if European Commission wanted to create a pan-European licensing model for sports, film and music then it must go through the proper consultative and legislative processes, not use the courts.

 

'Contrary to EU law'

 

The case at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has been about whether a rights holder such as the Premier League can license its content on a country-by-country basis.

 

Such a set-up has allowed the league to fully maximise the value of its rights.

 

If they do, selling sport, movies, or any other content, on an exclusive territory-by-territory basis within the EU may no longer be possible.

 

"The exclusivity agreement relating to transmission of football matches are contrary to European Union law," she said in her opinion.

 

"(The) exclusivity rights in question have the effect of partitioning the internal market into quite separate national markets, something which constitutes a serious impairment of the freedom to provide services."

 

Fined

Ms Murphy had been convicted for using the cheaper Greek satellite receiver to show top flight football in her pub.

 

For the first time, Saturday 3pm kick-offs would be widely available to watch on TV. A lure for many, certainly, but would it damage attendances at football grounds across the country?

 

There could also be immense implications for how we can consume music, books and film.

 

This is a point of permanent tension in the European project.

 

How far can you have a single European market without any boundaries to impede its smooth flow? And how far are national borders not an obstacle, but a protection?

 

She used the Nova firm to show matches in the Red, White and Blue pub in Portsmouth as it was less expensive than Sky.

 

Enforcers working on behalf of Football Association Premier League Limited (FAPL) - the private company which represents the broadcasting interests of the 20 English Premier League clubs - brought the prosecution saying only Sky TV had exclusive rights to show its games in the UK.

 

She had to pay nearly

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Don't understand the joy and celebration of many?

Surely this will just make premiership games more accessible to pubs and if games are to be shown at 3pm Saturday there is a massive chance it will lower crowd at AFC and the entire SPL?

 

Seems like some people would see Murdoch fail whatever the cost to anyone else.

Games are shown at 3pm now every week in pubs.

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Perish the thought.

 

If this happens it could be the final nail in the coffin for the SPL.

On the other hand - the big money drying up in England could be massive boost long term for the SPL who may be able to compete more when it comes to players wages, increasing the quality on the pitch which is the main reason crowds rise and drop in the SPL.

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Whilst it's true the law could change to allow other providers to supply content into other countries, the flip side should also prevail in that Sky then would be able to sell subscriptions into EU countries they are cuurently not the providers.

 

This would create a situation similar to most industry deregulation where everyone bombs into the market and only a couple survive - First Bus/Stagecoach for example.

 

Not sure it would herald the end of anything.

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Whilst it's true the law could change to allow other providers to supply content into other countries, the flip side should also prevail in that Sky then would be able to sell subscriptions into EU countries they are cuurently not the providers.

 

This would create a situation similar to most industry deregulation where everyone bombs into the market and only a couple survive - First Bus/Stagecoach for example.

 

Not sure it would herald the end of anything.

 

Sky already have a problem with the monopoly regulators. Going into other EU markets will surely get the EU Commission straight onto Murdochs back.

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Seems like some people would see Murdoch fail whatever the cost to anyone else.

The EPL has been a false economy since it started...

 

It's thanks to that Ozzy B@stard that football in Europe has gone to f**k. It's thanks to SKY's billion pound contract with the EPL that lesser leagues can not compete anymore in the transfer market. The days of Aberdeen buying a top PSV player have gone forever - simply outbid when it comes to salary or transfer money. I mean is it right that the second teir in England is the 4th best paid league in the world?

 

And thanks to SKY, we now have wee arseholes demanding... and getting

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They encourage competition only when it suits their agenda.

 

Murdoch has been bad for Scottish Football , about which , in spite of his ancestry , he appears to have little interest.

 

The SPL has suffered because of his business , tactics and winner takes all attitude. They do not want a level playing field and never will.

 

The outcome of this case might level the playing field a little bit. We do not want to be the 'poor relations' in the game for ever. We have a 'window'.

 

 

 

 

By Ian Burrell, Media EditorFriday, 4 February 2011

 

 

Landlady 1, Sky Sports 0 – the legal victory that has Murdoch worried

</EM>

 

A determined landlady has won a significant breakthrough in a legal battle that could transform the British pub trade by allowing premises to show Premier League games that are being broadcast by foreign networks.

 

 

 

Karen Murphy, who runs the Red, White and Blue pub in Portsmouth, is fighting a criminal and civil action brought against her after she began screening matches from the Greek broadcaster Nova, using a much cheaper decoder.

 

Yesterday, in a landmark case called "Murphy's Law", Julie Kokott, Advocate General at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, found that she had the right to show the matches, advising the EU's highest court to rule in favour of renegade landlords. The advice could cause a revolution in the way media sports rights are sold across the continent, and is sure to be the target of furious lobbying by the Premier League and by Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB ahead of a final decision this year.

 

http://www.independe...ed-2203842.html

 

 

Legal experts said the finding could create serious problems for BSkyB, which Mr Murdoch's News Corp is seeking to buy outright, and the funding of Premier League clubs. Robert Vidal, head of EU, competition and trade at lawyers Taylor Wessing LLP, said: "[Mr] Murdoch has always been a cheerleader for the free market; however, on this occasion I doubt he will welcome the introduction of cross-border competition and the resulting drop in turnover and margins as Sky customers migrate to cheaper providers."

 

Game on ! :sheepdance:

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The ECJ decision won't take into account the impact on football. The question at stake is whether it is anti-competative. We are supposed to be in an European market so why shouldn't European broadcasters be allowed to show games in the UK? and why shouldn't publicans show games from other European tv providers....

 

....i do share the concerns about the impact on the SPL. I guess we shall just have to wait and see...

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  • 7 months later...

Sky have lost their case against the plymouth bar that they took to court.

 

This has gone un-reported and is further good news, having lost the one against the Portsmouth bar owner too.

 

What is it with the south coast of English bar owners, tenacious by the sounds of them.

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This has gone un-reported and is further good news, having lost the one against the Portsmouth bar owner too.

 

What is it with the south coast of English bar owners, tenacious by the sounds of them.

Of course it could just be that I got two shit hole south of england places mixed up. :laughing:

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