ECJ rules football fans free to watch overseas broadcasts
updated on 07 October 2011
Football fans can now watch matches transmitted from overseas by using foreign decoder cards after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that preventing consumers from doing so would be contrary to free trade laws. The judgment came following a case between Portsmouth pub landlady Karen Murphy and the English Premier League (EPL), which took action against her for showing live football matches on an imported Greek decoder box and card.
Although Murphy won the case, a clause in the judgment protecting the EPL's right to stop pubs using overseas coverage (ie, permission from the rights holder may need to be granted in order to show the title sequence, EPL anthem and various graphics) could make it less of a victory than it appears.
City Law School professor Lorna Woods, an expert in broadcasting law and regulation of the media, said: "The general consensus may be that Murphy won this case - and she did regarding the import of the decoders - but I'm not sure how she can continue to show the games in full. According to the judgment, she will only be entitled to start screening games in the pub once the anthem is over and, likewise, she and other pub landlords may not be authorised to screen any graphics and it may not be possible to separate the games from these programme elements."
The effect of the clause will be established when the judgment is returned to the British High Court in the next few months.
