British pub landlady wins Sky TV satellite card case

A British pub landlady has today won her legal battle with the English Premier League over her use of a foreign satellite TV decoder to show live games.

Karen Murphy took her case to the European Courts of Justice after she was fined almost £8,000 for showing Premier League football in her pub in Portsmouth via an imported satellite card from Greek broadcaster NOVA, which cost around a tenth of the fee normally charged by Sky.

In February, advocate general Juliane Kokott said in a non-binding 'opinion' that broadcasters such as Sky should not be able to prevent customers from using cheaper foreign satellite TV equipment to watch the Premier League.

The ECJ judges have today said in a preliminary ruling that national laws prohibiting the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards are "contrary to the freedom to provide services and cannot 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".

The judges said that "a system of exclusive licences is also contrary to European Union competition law if the licence agreements prohibit the supply of decoder cards to television viewers who wish to watch the broadcasts outside the Member State for which the licence is granted".

The ruling in favour of Murphy could drastically change the way Premier League rights are agreed across Europe and lead to a shakeup of the exclusive deals with Sky and ESPN.

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

"There can be little doubt it will have contingency plans ready to go and has various options available," he said.

"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."

In 2005, Murphy signed up to receive the Sky Sports packages in her Portsmouth pub, The Red White and Blue, but soon found the subscription fee - around £1,000 - charged by Sky too high to sustain.

After switching to the cheaper NOVA service – which cost £118 a month, rather than £480 a month with Sky - enforcers working on behalf of Football Association Premier League Limited (FAPL) - a private firm representing the interests of all 20 English Premier League clubs - prosecuted Murphy on grounds that only Sky could show its games in the UK. She was ordered to pay nearly £8,000 in fines and costs.

In her legal 'opinion' in February, advocate general Kokott said that preventing Murphy from accessing Premier League games from any other broadcaster than Sky was a "serious impairment of the freedom to provide services".

The ECJ judges supported the opinion and added that live matches from the Premier League could not be protected by copyright.

However, they also said that opening video sequences, the Premier League anthem and any pre-recorded highlights or graphics were "works" and so to show them in a pub would require permission from the Premier League.

Murphy's case will now go back to the High Court in London, which had referred the matter to European court, to get a final ruling.