The football industry is fond of using ‘David and Goliath’ imagery to illuminate cup games between the impoverished and the enriched but a far more important battle between a publican from Portsmouth and the combined forces of the world’s most powerful league and most powerful broadcaster, is set to take place this week.
Karen Murphy, owner of The Red, White and Blue pub in Portsmouth was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £8000 for showing “illegal” broadcasts of FA Premier League games after buying a subscription to Greek broadcaster, NOVA. NOVA own broadcast rights for the league in Greece but customers in the UK are prohibited from using NOVAs subscription due to FA Premier League terms and conditions, which prohibits the use of broadcaster’s decoder cards outside their home territory.
At considerable personal expense, Karen Murphy has stood firm against the might of the FA Premier League lawyers and this week takes her case to the European Court of Justice, asking that the case against her be dismissed on the grounds that the league’s conditions of sale amount to a restriction on the freedom of trade.
One of the core tenets of European Law is the freedom of movement of goods and services between member nations, which a restrictive covenant asserting sales territories based on national boundaries clearly flouts. The European Court of Justice has never been asked to rule on these rights before so there is considerable concern at the FA Premier League, and its member clubs, that this decision will go against them.
Karen Murphy pays approximately 10% of the UK fee for her NOVA subscription, if she wins her case, the floodgates would be open for all commercial and domestic subscribers to ditch their expensive BSkyB subscriptions and buy them same product from Greece or elsewhere. Her case is being described as the Bosman of TV rights, as the same court previously ruled in favour of Jean-Marc Bosman when he challenged the decades old football transfer system which tied out-of-contract players to their previous clubs.
The FA Premier League’s current £1.78bn 3-year-deal with BSkyB started this summer, a condition of which is that the League restricts cross-national trade. My understanding is that the contract would become invalid if the European Court of Justice rule in favour of an open broadcast market.
European football has suffered from the tyranny of the BSkyB-FA Premier League relationship, which has skewed on-field results away from the meritocracy of coaching and scouting towards income like no other time in history.
Karen Murphy, owner of The Red, White and Blue pub in Portsmouth was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £8000 for showing “illegal” broadcasts of FA Premier League games after buying a subscription to Greek broadcaster, NOVA. NOVA own broadcast rights for the league in Greece but customers in the UK are prohibited from using NOVAs subscription due to FA Premier League terms and conditions, which prohibits the use of broadcaster’s decoder cards outside their home territory.
At considerable personal expense, Karen Murphy has stood firm against the might of the FA Premier League lawyers and this week takes her case to the European Court of Justice, asking that the case against her be dismissed on the grounds that the league’s conditions of sale amount to a restriction on the freedom of trade.
One of the core tenets of European Law is the freedom of movement of goods and services between member nations, which a restrictive covenant asserting sales territories based on national boundaries clearly flouts. The European Court of Justice has never been asked to rule on these rights before so there is considerable concern at the FA Premier League, and its member clubs, that this decision will go against them.
Karen Murphy pays approximately 10% of the UK fee for her NOVA subscription, if she wins her case, the floodgates would be open for all commercial and domestic subscribers to ditch their expensive BSkyB subscriptions and buy them same product from Greece or elsewhere. Her case is being described as the Bosman of TV rights, as the same court previously ruled in favour of Jean-Marc Bosman when he challenged the decades old football transfer system which tied out-of-contract players to their previous clubs.
The FA Premier League’s current £1.78bn 3-year-deal with BSkyB started this summer, a condition of which is that the League restricts cross-national trade. My understanding is that the contract would become invalid if the European Court of Justice rule in favour of an open broadcast market.
European football has suffered from the tyranny of the BSkyB-FA Premier League relationship, which has skewed on-field results away from the meritocracy of coaching and scouting towards income like no other time in history.
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