ECJ ruling a boost for Nova satellite TV
A ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday could pave the way for Greek satellite TV broadcaster Nova to have subscribers in other European countries, according to reports.
The ECJ was hearing the case of British pub owner Karen Murphy, who acquired a Nova decoder from Greece to show Premier League games on her pub TV, on the grounds that the BSkyB Sky Sports monthly subscription was too expensive.
A monthly subscription to Nova, which has about 350,000 customers, costs between 27 and 58 euros compared to a reported outlay of between 500 and 2,000 pounds (600 and 2,300 euros) per month that Sky demands from some 50,000 pubs that subscribe to its service in the UK.
Murphy had to pay nearly 8,000 pounds in fines and costs for using the cheaper Greek decoder in her Portsmouth pub to bypass controls over match screening, under national legislation that the ECJ found could not ?be justified either in light of the objective of protecting intellectual property rights or by the objective of encouraging the public to attend [soccer] stadiums.?
The pub landlady appealed to the Luxembourg-based ECJ after losing a lawsuit in an English court brought against her six years ago by a body representing the broadcasting interests of the 20 English Premier League clubs.
In February, a nonbinding opinion by Advocate General Juliane Kokott at the ECJ on whether a rights holder such as the English Premier League can license its content on a country-by-country basis suggested that such deals were in contravention of European law.
?The exclusivity agreement relating to transmission of football matches is contrary to European Union law,? Kokott said in her opinion, adding that ?exclusivity of the rights in question have the effect of partitioning the internal market into quite separate national markets, something which constitutes a serious impairment of freedom to provide services.?
Upholding that opinion the ECJ judges on Tuesday further said that the Premier League could not claim copyright over Premier League matches as they could not considered to be an author’s own ?intellectual creation? and, therefore, to be ?works? for the purposes of EU copyright law.
The ruling may hold implications not just for the Premier League, but also for UEFA?s Champions League and any other sport that sells broadcast rights on a country-by-country basis.
A spokesman for Murphy told BBC Radio Solent that she was ?overwhelmed with relief? and looking forward to getting the case back to the High Court.
?She’s overwhelmed with relief at the moment,? Murphy’s lawyer, Paul Dixon, said. ?It’s been a long road for her but she’s delighted to be getting the case back to the High Court now in London where it will be finalized, before very long we hope.
?It will mean increased competition in the broadcast market that’s for sure,? Dixon added.
