interestrateripoff Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/03/eu-law-sports-rights The European Union's highest court was today advised to rule that EU law does not prohibit pubs showing live Premier League matches from foreign broadcasters, potentially sparking a revolution in the way media sports rights are sold across the continent.Juliane Kokott, one of the eight advocate generals of the European court of justice, gave her view on a landmark case brought by Karen Murphy, landlady of the Red, White and Blue pub in Portsmouth. Murphy uses a Greek decoder card to show live Premier League matches at much cheaper rates than BSkyB charges commercial premises in the UK. The FA Premier League, which sells TV rights exclusively to broadcasters across Europe on a territory-by-territory basis, is attempting to clamp down on British pubs buying in live coverage from foreign broadcasters. Kokott today opened the door for the potential dismantling of this country-specific sports rights regime, saying that in her opinion the "exclusivity of the rights in question have the effect of partitioning the internal market into quite separate national markets, something which constitutes a serious impairment of freedom to provide services". While Kokott's opinion is not binding, the ECJ tends to follow the advice of advocate generals in the majority of cases. The Luxembourg-based court is expected to deliver its verdict on the Murphy case later this year. Kokott said that the "economic exploitation of the [TV] rights is not is not undermined by the use of foreign decoder cards as the corresponding charges have been paid for those cards". "Whilst those charges are not as high as the charges imposed in the UK there is ... no specific right to charge different prices for a work in each member state," she added. Kokott said that the idea of selling on a territorial exclusivity basis was "tantamount to profiting from the elimination of the internal market". Looks like Sky sports premium content charge is over for pubs now if this is upheld. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/03/eu-law-sports-rights Looks like Sky sports premium content charge is over for pubs now if this is upheld. hooray for the pubs. Bring back smoking at the discretion of the landlord while your at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilchardthecat Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Massive win-win scenario. (1) EU does something useful for a change (2) Murdoch turns his media supergun around and points it at Brussels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erranta Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 http://www.guardian....w-sports-rights Looks like Sky sports premium content charge is over for pubs now if this is upheld. Premium ******** billions withdrawn from excessively paid footballers more like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shermanator Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Massive win-win scenario. (1) EU does something useful for a change (2) Murdoch turns his media supergun around and points it at Brussels Now we all know why Murdoch loathes the EU, it prevents his monopoly. These satellite companies from Greece and Albania charge 1k a year flat rate whereas Sky can go north of 30k. No doubt the Murdoch clan will be summoning Jeremy Hunt over soon for his orders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corevalue Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Good. And whilst the EU are about it, how about scrapping the toadying to the US which places restrictions on where you can view, for example, BBC television. It's not allowed to receive it in Spain, for example, because films are sold by territory, and not per subscribing viewer. I'd like to watch French satellite TV in the UK, but the sale of decoder cards is banned, because of this excuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cica Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Very, very, sensible by the judge. Why do footballers get paid so much? One reason is because Sky get so much protection from the government's laws. If Sky want to try to control exactly what people watch then they can try and do it themselves by offering a superior service. If they can't then tough crap. I don't mind corporations trying their best to control intellectual property (Sky's MediaCrypt) like this but tough cookies if some people are willing to compromise and find a way around it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim123 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/03/eu-law-sports-rights Looks like Sky sports premium content charge is over for pubs now if this is upheld. No it's not. The days of the PL selling satellite rights to anyone except a single EU wide operator is over. People in the UK are not going to see the cost of live PL football coming down. The rest of Europe is going to see their costs go up to UK prices. tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saving For a Space Ship Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I was expecting the judgement to go the other way and hear the terraces chant ...' Up pub pay ' ..coat on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cica Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 No it's not. The days of the PL selling satellite rights to anyone except a single EU wide operator is over. People in the UK are not going to see the cost of live PL football coming down. The rest of Europe is going to see their costs go up to UK prices. tim You might be right or any type of control of video media is going to be in for a SERIOUSLY rough time in the next few years and so it should in my view. Peer-to-peer sharing is only going to get bigger and bigger. Media "owners" CAN still compete with those who don't agree with media laws. For instance, I like to watch some martial arts fights sometimes and the problem with trying to watch them illegally is this... Poor quality, frame rates, reliability. When they are published retrospectively they are often ruined by titles showing who won the fight spoiling it for people. It's not necessarily "live". People love live sports no matter how irrational some of it might be. Only media owners charging for content can overcome these. That's their strength. They should stick to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isakndar Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/03/eu-law-sports-rights Looks like Sky sports premium content charge is over for pubs now if this is upheld. Fraid not see this article http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=10878 Rupert is the largest operator of pay TV in Italy and Germany - Sky will have huge leverage and deals will be sought on an EU wide basis - if anything this gives Rupert a potential advantage. Hence the official comments from Sky representatives are quite neutral on the result of the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnionTerror Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/9386554.stm 5K a month... I'm not surprised the clubs are whining..they don't want the gravy train to end... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
interestrateripoff Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Fraid not see this article http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=10878 Rupert is the largest operator of pay TV in Italy and Germany - Sky will have huge leverage and deals will be sought on an EU wide basis - if anything this gives Rupert a potential advantage. Hence the official comments from Sky representatives are quite neutral on the result of the case. In the sense he can now drive down his own costs and try and attract more subscribers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monks Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I hope to God this landlady hasn't got any skeletons in her cupboard, cos the News of The World will be furiously digging right now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I-hate-scumlords Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 No it's not. The days of the PL selling satellite rights to anyone except a single EU wide operator is over. People in the UK are not going to see the cost of live PL football coming down. The rest of Europe is going to see their costs go up to UK prices. tim The Premeir League is popular over Europe and obviously make a good bit of money from nations without major leagues but there is no chance the people of such countries would subscribe on mass to watch it, theyll just watch German Italian or Spanish football instead. They tried putting the Premier League on a pay channel in China i believe only 70,000 people coughed up and now no one out there watches it ... most of them must have been expats and bars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackgoose Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 The Premeir League is popular over Europe and obviously make a good bit of money from nations without major leagues but there is no chance the people of such countries would subscribe on mass to watch it, theyll just watch German Italian or Spanish football instead. They tried putting the Premier League on a pay channel in China i believe only 70,000 people coughed up and now no one out there watches it ... most of them must have been expats and bars. It would be nice if this filtered down leaving less money/ footballer, but they'll probably just put season tickets up which the 'loyal fan' will stupidly pay at any price. Anything so that braindead foreign idiots can afford their next supercar and impress the local slappers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agentimmo Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 The Premeir League is popular over Europe and obviously make a good bit of money from nations without major leagues but there is no chance the people of such countries would subscribe on mass to watch it, theyll just watch German Italian or Spanish football instead. They tried putting the Premier League on a pay channel in China i believe only 70,000 people coughed up and now no one out there watches it ... most of them must have been expats and bars. Correct. People who pay for tv in Europe (outside UK) see the EPL offering that is bundled with their national game as an added bonus. In France, they show the 3 FA cup games live on France4, the equivalent of BBC3 and probably the same low viewing figures. In the UK, SKY show the same games and punters pay for it. SKY cannot put up the prices in Italy and Germany as there is no demand, apart from some expats. In Spain, I believe Canal+ have a market share, therefore Murdoch would lose customers if he tries to up the price. If SKY thought this ruling would give them an advantage, they wouldn't have challenged the pub owner in the first place If SKY/EPL decide not to sell right to Greece and a few others, then shirt sponsors of EPL teams might as for a part refund as their target audience shrinks by millions...... Well done the EU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnionTerror Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I can certainly see Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea and possibly Arsenal ramping up their in-house TV channels by the time the next Sky deal is ready to be negotiated. They may well think that they might make more cash charging £20 a month for fans to access their own channels. I believe that's what Barca & Real Madrid do.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crash2006 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 It shows me how screwed/ one sided our court system is, one of the fundamental points about the sea 86 is the free movement of people services etc... the UK judge can't just dismiss this contract we sign but he did, infact he didnt follow the law, but bent over for coorporations, just like many other court trails taken place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim123 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 SKY cannot put up the prices in Italy and Germany as there is no demand, apart from some expats. In Spain, I believe Canal+ have a market share, therefore Murdoch would lose customers if he tries to up the price. If SKY thought this ruling would give them an advantage, they wouldn't have challenged the pub owner in the first place If SKY/EPL decide not to sell right to Greece and a few others, then shirt sponsors of EPL teams might as for a part refund as their target audience shrinks by millions...... You're missing the point. Sky aren't the slightest bit interested in getting people in Germany and Italy to pay UK prices for UK football. If pushing the prices up in these other countries sees zero subscribers they don't care one bit, the reson for putting the price up is to stop a back door route to UK resident getting the games cheeper. Ske didn't defend this case. This was an issue of copyright and the copyright holder is the PL, it was they who were the defendents. Sky just went along for the ride (and had little real interest in the ourtcome). For reference, the PL collects (via sky and its other partnerts): 660 million from UK subs 60 million from EU subs 340 million from the rest of the word. Do you think that they will work hard to keep that 60 million if they risk losing say 300 million in the process? tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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