Pubs & Foreign Broadcasters

[jonny72]

The EU legal advisor has said the practice of stopping pubs from buying Premier League coverage from other EU countries (at a lower price than from Sky) is illegal and they should be allowed to buy from wherever they want....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12355022

If this advice is upheld its going to have a massive knock on effect for the sale of Premier League TV rights across the EU and will most likely lead to Sky and ESPN buying the rights for the entire EU - as no one else would pay the money they will. They in turn would then have to sell packages at the same rates across the entire EU as otherwise people will just buy them from another country instead.

[stfcinbmth]

Good news, one up the arse for Murdoch

[Ardiles]

Thing is, the UK market is by far the most important market in Europe for TV rights.  I'm not sure whether this will result in a significant reduction in UK prices charged; more likely, a significant increase elsewhere.

Either way, Murdoch and the PL both lose money...which can only be a good thing.

[stfcinbmth]

Mind you it will probably lead Murdoch to take over all the other EU's satellite broadcasters as he has done in Italy and Germany.

[Spencer_White]

I think with the internet as it is, pirate TV will only get more and more prevalent in this country.

Yes the TV deals from other countries are massive, but pirate TV will take over there too, and less and less people will big money pay for TV subscriptions.

This is the beginning of the end of football's ludicrous financial state.

[Batch]

Given this is a "A non-binding opinion" what is the next step? A test case?

[stfcinbmth]

I think with the internet as it is, pirate TV will only get more and more prevalent in this country.

Yes the TV deals from other countries are massive, but pirate TV will take over there too, and less and less people will big money pay for TV subscriptions.

This is the beginning of the end of football's ludicrous financial state.

What do you mean by pirate tv Spencer?

[leefer]

Just informed my mate...he is over the moon...been waiting for this news.

He imports decoders and installed all the pubs for Arkells............when Sky threatened action Arkells took them all out.

If this is the final full verdict he is back in buisness...big time.

[stfcinbmth]

Just informed my mate...he is over the moon...been waiting for this news.

He imports decoders and installed all the pubs for Arkells............when Sky threatened action Arkells took them all out.

If this is the final full verdict he is back in buisness...big time.

What packages does he supply Lee?

[jonny72]

Given this is a "A non-binding opinion" what is the next step? A test case?

No. It's up to the judges hearing the case as to whether they follow the opinion of the advocate or not and they usually do.

It's going to make the Premier League rights for the rest of the EU pretty much worthless, as broadcasters will have to sell the channels for the same prices they do in the UK and not many will pay what we do. Doubt it will happen over night though and there is always the possibility of an exception being granted as well as further legal challenges.

[tans]

What do you mean by pirate tv Spencer?

I think he means sites such as justin.tv and iraqgoals etc

[jonny72]

Just informed my mate...he is over the moon...been waiting for this news.

He imports decoders and installed all the pubs for Arkells............when Sky threatened action Arkells took them all out.

If this is the final full verdict he is back in buisness...big time.

He shouldn't get too happy. It will probably be a while before the final verdict and if it goes against them they'll find another way to block it - such as terminating the foreign broadcasting agreements and selling them EU wide to Sky and ESPN.

[pauld]

Good news, one up the arse for Murdoch

No it's not sadly. As jonny says, it's more likely to result in Sky and ESPN becoming about the only players in EU broadcasting rights as the Leagues will increasingly have to offer Europe-wide deals and they're the only ones with the kind of presence to be able to do that. Which means they might lose some money short-term but long-term they'll have less competition from smaller players and will be able to ramp their prices everywhere.

Twohundredpercent had a good piece on it (I thought it would be a blow to Sky too till I read this)
http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=10878

[leefer]

What packages does he supply Lee?

Think its the Algerian imports he uses/used......all different packages.

He does Gold/Silver/Bronze deals according to what people want............at a MUCH cheaper rate than Sky charge for pubs etc.

Fact is even if the law dosn't change that much this news means its highly doubtfull that he and hundreds of others will be fined now(like the landlady from Portsmouth...Brady)

[pauld]

Sounds like he may have a good next couple of years then once the TV deal's renegotiated in 2013, see the arse completely fall out of his business