Fair play to Murphy. She won her case seemingly so foreign broadcasts not illegal in the EU.
Indeed. I posted about that last night on a sports streaming thread. That was the US authorities who acted there. Shut down a few sites in the past couple of days.
Atdhe has moved to atdhe.me anyway.
firstrow is up and running elsewhere too, posted the link last night.
What does the new ruling mean in practical terms rocko? That pubs can show EPL games and the like on Albanian/Arab television channels once they’ve the right sattelite?
It only impacts the EU rights. They’ve basically said that it’s not legal to sell the rights on a country by country basis and the rights must be sold on an EU-wide basis. Don’t think there will be any major changes until the current deal runs out anyway.
What the ruling means for pubs is that they are perfectly entitled to buy their subscrptions from another EU country.
I’m 100% guessing here but if this is upheld then Sky will have to buy the EU wide rights rather than the British alone. Sky are currently paying 1.6bn for UK alone and other countries (not just EU) are paying 1bn. If Sky buy the EU wide rights then that will cannibalise some of the revenue in that 1bn figure.
Sky would then probably try to sell rights to other EU countries to recoup the additional costs of buying EU-wide rights as opposed to the UK alone but not sure how they could stop them selling these broadcasts EU wide unless Sky managed to get a non-compete clause or something but don’t know how legal that would be.
I can’t see it impacting the private subscriber too much as they would need to invest in additional hardware to get the foreign feed wiping out some of the savings. It might get interesting though if another EU country allows subscribers to watch online.
I’ll wait for David Conn of the Guardian to give me the answers but anything that gives Murdoch another headache is certainly good news.
So it’s definite that pubs can now show matches on any channel that’s doesn’t originate in an EU country? The boys who sell those dishes to pubs are absolutely laughing if so
My reading of it is only legal if the pubs have paid for a subscription in another EU country?
17 February 2011 Last updated at 13:39 GMT
World Cup games to remain on free-to-air TV in the UK
By Bill Wilson
The European General Court (EGC) has ruled that UK football fans can continue to watch major events on free-to-air TV in future.
Fifa and Uefa had challenged a decision allowing the UK government to designate the World Cup and European Championships as free-to-watch events.
Both are on the UK list of “protected” events of national sporting importance.
The EGC now says an EU member state can prohibit the exclusive broadcast of games at these two events on pay-TV.
The court also dismissed Fifa’s action against Belgium showing all World Cup matches on free-to-air TV in that country.
Fifa and Uefa had argued the current set-up interfered with their ability to sell television rights at the best price.
They had said there was no reason why all games at tournaments should be shown free on UK television, as part of a list the national sporting “crown jewels” that have to be made available to everyone to watch.
‘Action dismissed’
UK fans will not have to pay to watch stars like Argentina’s Lionel Messi playing at the World Cup But the EGC has now said that the present way that games are shown in the UK - with the whole of the World Cup and European Championships on free-to-air - can continue.
It said "the court holds that the [European] Commission did not err in finding that the United Kingdom’s categorisation of all World Cup and Euro matches… as ‘events of major importance’ for their societies are compatible with European Union law.
“Consequently, Fifa’s and Uefa’s actions are dismissed.”
The EGC, formerly the Court of First Instance, is the first European court where a decision is made. Appeals about its rulings are taken to the European Court of Justice.
Fifa and Uefa now have two months to launch any appeal.
‘Distortion of competition’
The two football bodies had argued that any games featuring England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland would have still been shown on TV for free, as would have the finals and semi-finals of the tournaments.
But the rest of the 64 World Cup matches and 31 European Championship matches would not have been free in the UK.
Uefa had said the listing infringed its property rights, as it resulted “in a restriction of the way in which the applicant may market the television rights to the Euro [championships]”.
It had also said that showing the entire tournament on free-to-air in the UK had led to “a disproportionate and unjustified distortion of competition on the relevant market”.
An EU directive gives all member states the right to designate sporting and cultural events of national interest for broadcast on free-to-air TV stations.
Hence, the Broadcasting Act 1996 gives the British government the power to designate key sporting and other events as “listed events”.
The purpose of the list is to ensure that such events are made available to all television viewers, particularly those who do not have subscription television.
‘Single events’
“This obviously is a bad day for rights holders,” said Daniel Geey, competition and EU regulatory expert at Field Fisher Waterhouse law firm.
“Fifa and Uefa argued that the listing legislation constrained their ability to sell the broadcasts at the maximum commercial level to the widest possible selection of broadcasters.”
Mr Geey said the two football bodies had emphasised to the court they only wished to sell the rights to games that did not include the relevant member state’s teams.
“The General Court ruling however stated that the World Cup and European Championships are to be regarded as single events rather than individual games and that individual matches should not be divided up into ‘prime’ or ‘non-prime’ matches,” Mr Geey added.
And he said the ruling would have the knock-on effect of insulating free-to-air broadcasters from pay-TV competition.
For the second time in two weeks news from a European court has had an impact on the way fans may watch big-match football live on television in the UK.
Two weeks ago, the issue was about whether live Premier League football in the UK had to be watched via Sky and ESPN’s services.
Today’s announcement means Fifa and Uefa have lost out on the chance to increase the revenues they get from selling the rights to showpiece events in the UK.
And broadcasters such as Sky and ESPN have missed out on obtaining top-notch football products to sell to their customers in the summer months.
It also means that the concept of a list of “crown jewel” sporting events, which must be shown to the whole nation free of cost, remains intact.
That means for now - as Fifa and Uefa may well appeal - lazy summer days on the sofa or in the pub watching three World Cup games in a day can continue.
In December 2008, the Labour government announced a review of the list, carried out by an independent advisory panel headed by former FA chief executive David Davies.
The panel reported in November 2009 with its recommendations.
“I have read with great interest the summary of the findings of the European court,” Mr Davies told BBC News.
"It’s remarkable how they reflect the debate and conclusions that our own panel on listed events came to 18 months ago.
"Personally, they don’t alter my view that for the UK at least, the best solution in the future would be a voluntary agreement on the broadcasting of events of national resonance.
"If the will is there among the broadcasters and the sporting governing bodies, this is achievable, and maybe today’s judgement could bring that agreement nearer "
In July last year, the Coalition government said any decision on the future of the list would be deferred until 2013 - after the conclusion of digital switchover in 2012.
‘Protecting sports events’
The UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport said they were pleased with the result.
“We welcome the decision from the EU and continue to support the principle of protecting sports events for free-to-air coverage,” a spokesman said.
Emma McClarkin MEP, Conservative sports spokesman in the European Parliament, added: "We need to ensure that the crown jewels of our national sports are accessible to everyone.
“I hope that Fifa and Uefa will not appeal [against] this ruling.”
ESPN are having a ‘free view weekend’ for punters to see their offering. Manchester City-Wigan is on at the moment followed by Juventus-Zlatan afterwards.
UEFA are about to change how they divide up money for international games by introducing a centralised tv revenue pool which will be divided among the countries in the association.
Instead of FAI, SFA, IFA, DFB etc all negotiating individually with tv partners, UEFA will sell the rights collectively and distribute the cash. Will make for a far more even distribution of funds - a bit like the Champions League where clubs in small television markets still do relatively well financially out of the tournament.
Not sure how the central negotiations will work on international games with “protected events” etc but it’s a positive step I believe and will benefit the FAI to the tune of €40m.
How would a publican go about buying Sky from another country (as was ruled legal by the judgement discussed further up)?
My local got done for not having the proper subscription so now has no sky TV on the premises.
You don’t buy SKY, you buy something from Poland (POLSAT) or somewhere instead.
And they ship you over a box and card etc?
Yep. You need to have a dish that’s capable of receiving their broadcast too though.
Anyone know how long UPC hasn’t been showing ITV2 ITV3 or ITV4 for? On the channels it mentions that ITV has exclusive rights arrangements with other providers - presume this is Sky?
Only noticed them gone this morning myself. Could have been since the turn of the month perhaps?
Sky Sports and Football League agree £195m dealThe Football League has signed a three-year deal with Sky Sports, giving the broadcaster exclusive rights to show live matches from the 2012-13 season.
The deal, worth £195m, marks a drop from the current £264m agreement with Sky and the BBC.
Football League chairman Greg Clarke said it had been a challenging climate to negotiate in.
The BBC said that it had been unable to make a competitive bid for live broadcast rights.
Under the new agreement, Sky Sports will broadcast 75 matches from across the Npower Football League, the play-offs including all three finals, 15 matches from the Carling Cup including both legs of each semi-final and the final, the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and at least two matches from the preceding rounds.
Sky will also show match highlights.
The Football League said it was in ongoing discussions with broadcasters regarding free-to-air highlights.
The BBC currently has first pick to show 10 live Championship matches a season, as well as two legs of the semi-finals and shared live coverage of the Carling Cup Final.
But a spokesman said: "Given the current financial climate and the internal strategic review being carried out through Delivering Quality First, we were not in a position to be able to make a competitive bid for the Football League live TV broadcast rights.
“We look forward to continuing our coverage of the Football League to the end of the 2011-2012 season when our contract expires.”
League chairman Mr Clarke said: "This has been a challenging climate in which to negotiate television rights, given the state of the economy and the lack of competitive tension in the sports broadcasting market.
“I am confident that our clubs will take heart from seeing such a significant ongoing investment in their competitions, despite a reduced level of broadcasting income, as it provides financial certainty in uncertain times.”
This gas only happened in the last week. However as far as I can see you can still pick these channels up FTA on satellit
The deal with ITV and UPC ended on March 31st.
Was anything decent ever on ITV 2, 3 or 4? Doubt I ever watched them.