Briantist: Yes, this is actually quite interesting from a legal point of view. Copyright law enables the rights holder (The Premier League in this case) to restrict broadcasting within different territories, for example the banning of showing live matches on Saturday afternoons in the UK, but EU competition law states that consumers can buy services from anywhere within the EU so that with a Greek decoder card a pub in the UK can show live Premier League matches on a Saturday afternoon. The ECJ have refused so far to get involved with football but it looks as though they have finally decided to have a go.
Monday 7 February 2011 4:29PM
Briantist: Yes, this is actually quite interesting from a legal point of view. Copyright law enables the rights holder (The Premier League in this case) to restrict broadcasting within different territories, for example the banning of showing live matches on Saturday afternoons in the UK, but EU competition law states that consumers can buy services from anywhere within the EU so that with a Greek decoder card a pub in the UK can show live Premier League matches on a Saturday afternoon. The ECJ have refused so far to get involved with football but it looks as though they have finally decided to have a go.