Pub landlords face jail in major Sky crackdown on illegally broadcast English football matches Premier League and BSkyB use copyright law to retain broadcasting rights Hardline campaign comes months after it loses EU ruling over foreign de-coders Landlords who illegally screened matches facing huge fines for breaching League's copyright By KERRY MCQUEENEY Last updated at 2:45 PM on 16th February 2012 Comments (9) Share Pub landlords who illegally screen English football matches could face heavy fines or jail under copyright law as the Premier League and BSkyB begin a hardline campaign to retain its exclusive broadcasting rights. Just months after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that UK bar owners can bypass Sky by using cheap overseas de-coders to access sports services, the industry is now seeking alternative areas of law to halt them. In what will be seen as a retaliatory strike, legislation is now being used to fine landlords for broadcasting logos, national anthems and pre-recorded footage - because it breaches copyright. The move appears to circumvent an earlier legal ruling. Game over: Pubs illegally screening England matches for their punters are now facing steep fines and even jail Crack down: The Premier League and BSkyB have taken the hardline stance to stop pubs from screening illegal football matches The hardline approach comes after a High Court judgment earlier this month, when the Premier League won a copyright ruling against pubs using foreign de-coder cards to screen games. Judge David Kitchin found that - when customers are able to view footage featuring logos, pre-recorded video sequences, previous games and anthems - pubs are violating Premier League copyright. In what is thought to be the first of many prosecutions to come, a landlord in Essex was last week ordered to pay more than £19,000 in fines and costs this month after being convicted of screening Premier League and international matches via Sky Sports without a commercial viewing agreement. Ruling: The FA Premier League cannot stop people from seeking better deals from foreign broadcasters than the TV sports subscriptions offered by BSkyB Frederick Young, licensee of a pub in Shenfield, was convicted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988, of six offences of dishonest reception of a television reception, according to the Independent. He was fined £2,500 for each offence and also ordered to pay £4,522 in court costs. More... Tory minister blocks 'sensitive personal' story about her son, 17, with High Court injunction BBC spent £350,000 on legal battle to keep report on its 'biased' Middle East coverage secret Portsmouth landlady Karen Murphy is currently fighting an £8,000 fine she received for using a cheaper Greek satellite service to show English football in her pub. She was paying £118 a month to use the foreign de-coder instead of Sky subscription rate of £480. She will go to the High Court next week in a bid to get her case overturned, using October's ECJ ruling. Publican Karen Murphy inside her pub in Portsmouth. The landlady was fined almost £8,000 for using an imported Greek satellite decoder to save money on subscription fees However, while she might successfully get her £8,000 fine overturned, the High Court is likely to uphold the Premier League's right to copyright, which could result in a separate fine. While the first ruling was seen by many as a chance for football fans to watch 'cut-price' Premier League matches, pubs will now find themselves trapped by the copyright ruling. The broadcaster has paid more than £1billion for the UK broadcast rights for Premier League matches, and October's ruling was described as driving a âcoach and horsesâ through one of BSkyBâs most lucrative sidelines. Sports broadcasting licences tied to individual countries were âcontraryâ to EU competition law, the ECJ said. The ruling threatens the estimated £200million in revenue Sky earns from its commercial division, which sells subscriptions to pubs, clubs, restaurants and gyms. The Premier League and BSkyB are now outlining their intentions to take legal action in advertisements being published in the drinks industry trade press. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...t-English-football-matches.html#ixzz1mawzurAC
You can now get a job In prison and they have sky sports there by all accounts ... I am off scrumping on my bike which has no lights ... Crime pays We could all nick Fulham's kiddy fiddler statue for scrap value
I have a dream..... Every computer in the land constantly playing illegally streamed football until Mr Murdochs head explodes with fury and frustrated greed. By the way, I'm hearing strange clicks on my mobile, any idea what it could be?
Im sure that Karen Murphy's case (and I stand to be corrected) is to do with Trading Laws in Europe rather than copyright. I guess Murdoch needs the money to keeping paying off the innocent people his dodgy phone hacking reporters have written about (alledgely - cause i don' want to get myself into any trouble).
Surely the pub managers will just drop sky totally and get the legal foreign feeds losing sky money in the process?# Anyway, **** Murdoch. i wouldnt give him £1 if that was the cost of the maximum sky package.
Yeah, I donât know much about it and it all sounds pretty heavy handed to me, but I think youâre right Flyer. Surely, if you donât have a Sky dish, a Sky decoder or a Sky subscription then they canât touch you? My guess would be that youâd only really risk getting into trouble if you had one of these but were still accessing the foreign feeds. Otherwise surely itâs literally none of their business, no?
My understanding of what they are doing, even if you don't have sky but a foreign decoder, sky can get the landlord on copyright if the feed they are showing shows pre recorded copyright material.
Sky charges pubs over 10k a year for their service, if you look at it youll see a pint glass somewhere on screen, this guy was probably using a home sub for his pub.
Totally agree there for years the internet has been freedom to all ... I have watched over the years as the net tightens ... I have gone from people saying it wouldn't even carry on ... getting free flights to France every week on Ryan Air on a Mac using the back button (sadly they fixed that) . Free Software, Free Films, Free Music Thank heavens that there will always be people far smarter than the corporate idiots who are trying to screw things down and make themselves richer. Some people don't realise exactly how simple computers are
In live football terms, Ipswich has turned into a ghost town (until very recently just one pub near the bus station and a Riley's within a mile or so radius of the town centre). This is all due to the increases in the subscriptions that Sky charge (and not the subscriptions themselves which landlords were originally happy to pay). Basically, they thought they were untouchable and are now trying desperately to claw it back. It's like turning your local Tesco into a Waitrose and then fining people because they decide it's better value to go to Aldi.
Wow, if that's correct then it seems pretty harsh to me! I guess the lesson is don't mess with Murdoch. One way or another he'll get ya.
