Pub wins over TV football ruling

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4 October 2011 Last updated at 09:25 GMT Karen Murphy on why she took her fight to Europe, speaking to 5 live in October 2010

A pub landlady has won the latest stage of her fight to air Premier League games using a foreign TV decoder.

Karen Murphy had to pay nearly ￡8,000 in fines and costs for using a cheaper Greek decoder in her Portsmouth pub to bypass controls over match screening.

But she took her case to the European Court of Justice.

The ECJ now says national laws which prohibit the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards are contrary to the freedom to provide services.

'Relief'

It said national legislation, which banned the use of overseas decoders, could not "be justified either in light of the objective of protecting intellectual property rights or by the objective of encouraging the public to attend football stadiums".

"She's overwhelmed with relief at the moment," Mrs Murphy's lawyer, Paul Dixon, told BBC Radio Solent.

"It's been a long road for her but she's delighted to be getting the case back to the High Court now in London where it will be finalised, before very long we hope.

"It will mean increased competition in the broadcast market that's for sure."

The ECJ findings will now go to the High Court in London, which had sent the matter to the ECJ for guidance, for a final ruling.

However, it is unusual for a member state High Court to pass a different judgment to one provided by the ECJ.

'Contingency plans'

The decision could trigger a major shake-up for the Premier League and its current exclusive agreements with Sky Sports and ESPN, and pave the way to cheaper viewing for fans of top-flight English games.

"In practical terms, the Premier League will now have to decide how it wishes to re-tender its rights," said sports media lawyer Daniel Geey of Field Fisher Waterhouse solicitors.

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On the face of it, it looks like a blow for the Premier League and... broadcasters Sky and ESPN”

End Quote David Bond BBC sport editor "There can be little doubt it will have contingency plans ready to go and has various options available.

"Be it a pan-EU tender, selling in only certain EU member states or devising a plan to start its own channel, they will be deciding how best to maximise the value of their product to ensure any revenue shortfall is minimised."

The judges said the Premier League could not claim copyright over Premier League matches as they could not considered to be an author's own "intellectual creation" and, therefore, to be "works" for the purposes of EU copyright law.

However, the ECJ did add that while live matches were not protected by copyright, any surrounding media, such as any opening video sequence, the Premier League anthem, pre-recorded films showing highlights of recent Premier League matches and various graphics, were "works" protected by copyright.

To use any of these parts of a broadcast, a pub would need the permission of the Premier League.

'Major blow'

"On the face of it, it looks like a blow for the Premier League and... broadcasters Sky and ESPN," said BBC sport editor David Bond.

He said the Premier League had faced many regulatory challenges in the past and would find ways to get round the new situation.

Karen Murphy used the Greek firm Nova to show Premier League games

Sky 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.

Our correspondent said that would not necessarily change, given the huge value of other deals.

The Premier League's television income from mainland Europe is about ￡130m, less than 10% of their total ￡1.4bn overseas rights deal.

But he warned that it could have significant repercussions for other rights holders outside of sport, with life potentially getting more difficult for the film industry, which also sells its product on an country-by-country basis.

Satellite signals

The legal battle kicked off six years ago, when Ms Murphy was taken to court for using the Nova firm to show matches at the Red, White and Blue pub.

Using the Greek service, she had paid ￡118 a month, rather than ￡480 a month with the official broadcaster.

Licensed broadcasters encrypt satellite signals, with subscribers needing a decoder card to access them.

Ms Murphy took advantage of an offer to UK pubs to use imported cards.

In February, an ECJ advocate general said this was in line with the aims of the EU single market - a border-free zone for goods and services.

The Premier League has already taken action against two suppliers of foreign satellite equipment and a group of pub landlords who used imported decoding equipment to show English Premier League games and avoided the commercial premises subscription fees for Sky.

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Concern over football club owners

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AppId is over the quota
28 September 2011 Last updated at 13:50 GMT Damian Collins is part of the Commons committee looking into how football is run A Conservative MP has written to Sports Minister Hugh Robertson expressing concern about the ownership of Coventry City Football Club.

Damian Collins, who is part of a Commons committee looking into how football in England is run, wants to know more about owners Sisu Capital.

"In the case of Coventry City it didn't seem to be clear who the ultimate owners of the club were," he said.

A spokesperson for Sisu said the club is managed by private equity ownership.

Coventry's current owners have been in place since 2007 but there has been unrest, and changes were made at boardroom level this year.

The most notable of these was the departure of chairman Ray Ranson who had been integral to the takeover.

Mr Collins, who sits on the Commons' Culture Media and Sport Committee, told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire he was worried that it was not clear who is in charge of the Championship outfit.

"I took this up with the Football League to ask them and they confirmed to me that because no individual investor owned more than 10% of the club they didn't know who any investors in the club were," the Folkestone and Hythe MP said.

"I thought that was very unsatisfactory.

"We're constantly reassured that there are proper rules in place that govern who can own and invest in football clubs, what their background is, whether they have a stake or interest in other football clubs.

"To be able to apply those rules we've got to know who those investors are.

"One of the reasons these rules are in place on club ownership is to make sure there aren't conflicts of interest with people who've got stakes in different football clubs.

'Not anonymous'

"It's important from an integrity of competition point of view. It's also important in terms of the fans.

"When a club gets into financial difficulties it's the fans that suffer and it's also local businesses that are owed money by that football club that suffer.

"If the Football League and the Premier League were to turn around to Coventry and say, 'it's not good enough, you've got to have a declared owner of the club otherwise we won't let you play', I think you'd see a change."

Coventry City have declined to respond to Mr Collins' comments but have stood by quotes attributed to director Onye Igwe that appeared on The Guardian's website on Tuesday.

Mr Igwe told the publication: "We are not being anonymous. I am the fund's manager and a partner in Sisu, that is public."

He added that the funds for the club came from professional investors of various nationalities who wanted confidentiality, which was "normal practice in private equity".

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