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Omen · 03-10-2010, 04:05 PM

Premier League face potential 'Bosman' of TV rights.

Portsmouth publican case could end extortionate Sky prices, where pubs are charged thousands by greedy Sky.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11452434

arista · 03-10-2010, 04:42 PM

This should be Rule on SkySports.
Will the Europe Courts help her or Not?

Shasown · 03-10-2010, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omen

Premier League face potential 'Bosman' of TV rights.

Portsmouth publican case could end extortionate Sky prices, where pubs are charged thousands by greedy Sky.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11452434

Could end sky extortionate prices, could also mean increased prices throughout Europe.

Even if she does win the right to view from another broadcaster other than Sky this would have a knock on effect on Skys prices, as well as the copyright issue across Europe meaning NOVA may get blocked or be forced to pay increased costs to the FA itself.

Omen · 03-10-2010, 04:50 PM

I think so.

She has a Nova Sports package @£500, when Sky want I think £6,000.

Sky should be told to go and F'ck Off!

Omen · 03-10-2010, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shasown

Could end sky extortionate prices, could also mean increased prices throughout Europe.

Even if she does win the right to view from another broadcaster other than Sky this would have a knock on effect on Skys prices, as well as the copyright issue across Europe meaning NOVA may get blocked or be forced to pay increased costs to the FA itself.

It's not only Nova, there are any number of broadcasters carrying the PL you can watch in england. Sky are chancing their arm charging publicans up to a grand a month. See they can cut off a publican with Sky, but they can do nothing, NADA, if the broadcaster is foreign.

Shasown · 03-10-2010, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omen

It's not only Nova, there are any number of broadcasters carrying the PL you can watch in england. Sky are chancing their arm charging publicans up to a grand a month. See they can cut off a publican with Sky, but they can do nothing, NADA, if the broadcaster is foreign.

Of course Sky can do something they take you to court for illegal breach of copyright, thats why she had to pay nearly eight grand in fines and costs.

It would be nice regardless of the outcome if Sky did reduce their costs. But somehow I dont think that will happen. Incidentally most pubs do not pay anywhere a grand a month for sky, the subscription is assessed on an individual basis on information given by the applicant when they apply for it.

The European Court could rule that she has a right to air Nova or another transmitters programs in her pub, in which case Sky and the FA would restrict Nova etc. access to English matches in order to protect their own profits.

See the larger legal ramifications are simple, its about copyright protection. So if she is allowed to rebroadcast other providers, it also means TV companies could auto rebroadcast Novas output with agreement from them, so technically the BBC and ITV could do the same.

Omen · 03-10-2010, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shasown

Of course Sky can do something they take you to court for illegal breach of copyright, thats why she had to pay nearly eight grand in fines and costs.

It would be nice regardless of the outcome if Sky did reduce their costs. But somehow I dont think that will happen. Incidentally most pubs do not pay anywhere a grand a month for sky, the subscription is assessed on an individual basis on information given by the applicant when they apply for it.

The European Court could rule that she has a right to air Nova or another transmitters programs in her pub, in which case Sky and the FA would restrict Nova etc. access to English matches in order to protect their own profits.

She's appealing the £8k fine, and subject to the outcome of the appeal Sky will no longer get away with this kind of carry-on.

The Premier League sell the rights to football games to lots and lots of broadcasters all over the world, who unlike Sky aren't interested if a pub in England is showing them. There are also channels which are free which show English PL football which you can pick up in England with a satellite dish.

The PL which owns the rights and sells them on to European broadcasters cannot charge any more than the market dictates, and that price is not dictated by the pub trade in England. So they can't do anything about it except cancel all contracts, but there's nothing in it for them to do that.

Omen · 03-10-2010, 05:25 PM

Also, Sky wanted to charge the publican in question £6k/year.

King Gizzard · 03-10-2010, 05:30 PM

I go to a bar which has Italian rights, watch most football games in there when I go. Each PL game on a different screen its amazing

Omen · 03-10-2010, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate

I go to a bar which has Italian rights, watch most football games in there when I go. Each PL game on a different screen its amazing

Yep, you can buy a package form the middle east I believe, with every single PL game, I imagine they have 10 subscriptions and 10 boxes.

Shasown · 03-10-2010, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omen

Yep, you can buy a package form the middle east I believe, with every single PL game, I imagine they have 10 subscriptions and 10 boxes.

Nothing wrong with the FA selling broadcasting rights to who they like, however the publican who allows it to be shown in his pub live in the UK is actually breaking the law.

Sky has exclusive rights to broadcast (almost) live coverage of matches to the UK consequently you are supposed to buy through them if you are resident in the UK or if you are a publican allowing viewing in your premises. Thats the law at the moment.

By appealing the fine all the way through to Europe Ms Murphy is in fact challenging broadcasting and copyright laws which form the basis of current business procedures and contracts both in the UK and throughout Europe.

Even if she wins the extensions of the rulings in this case will have long term and far reaching effects both on Sky and other satellite services in the UK which may not be what she seeks. It doesnt necessarily mean that all prices will fall.

Even if it does knock the price of Sky down they wont take the hit, the EFA will, next time the contract to air comes under review. The BBC wont take it on because of their cost cuttings, the ITV groups cant really afford it. So the FA have may reduced bid amounts.

Omen · 04-10-2010, 08:59 AM

You can see why Murdoch hates the EU. They won't let him own the broadcasting rights to anything in the UK, unless he owns them for the entirety of Europe too. (And I assume the EU competition authority would never allow that). The EU is a free trade zone and therefore open to competition from all corners of Europe.

Therefore any resident of any part of Europe is entitled, logically, to acquire a product or service from anywhere within the EU without hindrance or barrier. Interestinly, the case before the European Court of Justice seeks to determine the right of a UK resident to acquire a service from another EU country, ie, Greece, where Nova is domiciled. On the face of it, it looks a pretty strong case.

The PL, which owns the rights and sells them to Sky and all the other broadcasters, would have to terminate (if they could) all these contracts, and exclusively sell them to Sky, but they'd lose a lot of money doing that.

billy123 · 04-10-2010, 09:35 AM

Any company within the european union that has being sold rights to televise the premier league by the fa or pl is entitled to sell their services to anybody else that lives in a country that is an EU member and that is a fact its a little thing called the free trade agreement which is the whole point of the EU.
murdoch is on a hiding to nothing with this screw him but most people are daft enough to believe what fox erm sorry i mean sky tell them.

Omen · 04-10-2010, 09:57 AM

Quote:

BSkyB braces for crunch EU sports ruling
Monday, 4th October 2010
SPORT FINANCE
STEVE DINNEEN
BSKYB is braced for a high court hearing this week that could change the football rights landscape.

A pub landlady has taken a case to the European Court of Justice claiming Sky is breaching European free-trade rules with the way it sells its commercial Sky Sports packages.

Portsmouth-based Karen Murphy was fined after an enforcement team from Football Association Premier League Limited (FAPL), an organisation working for the interests of the individual clubs, discovered she was screening matches through a Greek satellite broadcaster.

Murphy claims the £1,000 a month Sky charges for the right to screen matches is an unfair fee and she should be free to shop around other broadcasters.

The charges were brought against Murphy by FAPL. However, should Murphy be successful, the case could have drastic implications for Sky, which holds exclusive rights for commercial screening of matches in the UK. The case has the potential to open the floodgates for other publicans to switch their costly Sky subscriptions for cheaper European ones.
Many landlords say they have been forced to switch off the football because the prices are prohibitively high, giving the commercial edge to larger chain pubs and driving competition out of the industry.

Sky and the FAPL are already fighting to stop landlords using foreign decoders to screen games that kick off at 3pm, which UK-broadcasters are prohibited from showing.

http://www.cityam.com/news-and-analy...-sports-ruling

Omen · 04-10-2010, 10:03 AM

Quote:

A Portsmouth landlady is set to take on Sky in the European Court of Justice tomorrow over her showing Pompey games in her pub.
It brings the long-running saga between Karen Murphy, landlady of the Red, White and Blue pub in Fawcett Road, Southsea, and the media giant one step closer to the finish line.

Ms Murphy says she was advised in 2004 by Gales, her brewery at the time, to buy a satellite system from Nova, in Greece.

But the Premier League says she breached copyright law, as it has an exclusive deal with BSkyB to broadcast all premier league fixtures in the UK.

That deal means pub managers can pay more than £1,000 a month to Sky, rather than the £800 (per annum) being charged by Nova.The court battle began when Ms Murphy was twice taken to court by Media Protection Services, which protects the rights of broadcasters, for breaching Sky's copyright in this country.

The first time, she successfully argued that she had been unaware that she was breaching copyright law by using Nova.

But the second time she was convicted. She appealed to the High Court over the conviction but judges at the High Court in London said the law was such a grey area that even they couldn't decide.
They passed it to the European Court of Justice for a decision, and tomorrow Ms Murphy and MPS will have 20 minutes each to put their case across.

The stakes are incredibly high. If Karen succeeds, she'll create a 'Murphy's law' that will cause cheers in pubs across the country.

But if she fails, she says the costs of the case will see the Red White and Blue close its doors.

It will take around four weeks before the Judge Advocate will give his recommendations on the case to the British Court.

Ms Murphy argues that the law is so vague that she could not have knowingly broken it.

Until the European judges make up their mind, similar cases up and down the country are on hold.

Shasown · 05-10-2010, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omen

She actually does have a valid argument to appeal the conviction in that if UK High Court Judges cant decide if she has broken the law, how can she have knowingly broken it?

One good thing is that it will hopefully put an end to Sky's monopoly of the UK market or cause Sky to lower its subscriptions. It could however mean that football clubs at the lower end of the premiership and the other divisions suffer financially.