Pub landlady Karen Murphy has won her European court battle against the Premier League over the use of a foreign TV decoder to screen games. The European Court of Justice said an exclusive system of licences for the broadcasting of football matches in different EU countries - effectively stopping fans watching the broadcasts with a decoder card in other member states - is "contrary to EU law". But the verdict also warned: "The screening in a pub of football-match broadcasts containing protected works requires the authorisation of the author of those works." Such "protected works", said the judges, could include the opening video sequence or the Premier League anthem, which is a matter for copyright. Ms Murphy was ordered to pay almost £8,000 in fines and costs after she was taken to court by the League for using a Greek decoder in her Portsmouth pub to screen matches, avoiding the League's own controls over where its matches are screened. But the she took her case to the Luxembourg court which said that some UK pubs had started using foreign decoder cards, issued by a Greek broadcaster to subscribers resident in Greece, to access Premier League matches. The pubs buy a card and a decoder box from a dealer at prices lower than those of Sky, the holder of the UK broadcasting rights. The judges said that, in trying to justify its restrictions, the Premier League could not claim copyright over Premier League matches themselves, as such sporting events could not be considered to be an author's own "intellectual creation" and, therefore, to be "works" for the purposes of EU copyright law. ****ing took me ages to type.
Every pub with Sky paying the best part of £400 less each month is going to make a major chunk out of epl coffers. Lovely.
I'm flabbergasted at this... Women can run pubs?! That show football?! That in itself needs referring to the European Court of Human Rights. (braces for tina/jen backlash) In all seriousness, this won't affect Sky and the EPL clubs in the medium-longer term at all really. It will probably lead to re-negotiation of their rights contracts to TV stations in the EU and beyond, which will likely result in even more money coming in. But in the short term, what pub landlord in their right mind will continue paying Sky prices? Take it Murdoch, swift and bulbous.
She isn't even allowed to use it, what it actually means is that you can watch it at home using a decoder until 2013 when the new deal gets put in place.
why doesn't she just use her £60 quid a month sub with sky from her bedsit upstairs and cut out and stick this to her pub TV screens .. easiest way to a commercial pub license at no extra cost in my book .. please log in to view this image save giving the greeks any cash as well .. a double win
