Foreign satellite football warning for pubs

[gameboy]

Licensees are being warned not to install Arabic satellite channel ART to show Premiership football after the company printed explicit warnings about its legality in the UK.
The warnings, on the back of their decoder cards, say it is a criminal offence to use them in Europe.

This card is strictly intended to be used in the following countries. Algeria,Chad, Libya, Djibouti, Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Tunisia. Any use outside of said territory constitutes a criminal act.
Warning on back of new ART cards.

Licensees up and down the country have been using ART - The Arab Radio and Television Network - to show Premiership football for a fraction of a Sky subscription.

Leading Supplier
Leading satellite supplier Joe Ibrahim of Digital Sales in Lancashire said he hopes the move will make life difficult for cowboys cashing in on the confusion that surrounds foreign satellite systems.

He said: "Digital Sales only offer systems that originate in the EEC, these Arabic cards which are being brought in to the UK are usually smuggled in without payment of duty or Tax and they clearly do not come under the Television Without Frontiers directive for EEC members."

Dan Johnson of the FA Premier League said plans were afoot to make all foreign channels which buy Premiership football carry similar warnings on their smartcards.

Confirmation
He said: "This confirms what the Premier League and MPS have been saying all along; the use of these systems is illegal and the suppliers of them to the UK market have no legitimate contract with the likes of ART and other foreign broadcasters.

"Our advice to the trade is simple; don’t install these systems because you will face prosecution.

"If you’ve already had one put in, contact the company who supplied it ask them to remove it and for your money back."

A warning issued by the TV station says: "If we receive information our cards are being used illegally in the UK we will immediately switch off such cards"

Source: Morning Advertiser

[Salty25]

And how will this stop people buying them? ART must be having a right they know people are gonna completely ignore that! ART must make a fair bit of profit from these grey market cards, why would they want to stop it? Also, the Premier League probably threathened ART with losing the rights, but who else would actually be able to broadcast the games to that part of the world?

[rolfw]

You're missing the point Salty, the only successful defence that licencees have put forward to date, has been that they thought it was legal, this will put paid to that one, as it will be plainly printed on the card by the supplier that it isn't.

They all know that they cannot stop the card sales to the man on the street, but they are not that concerned about domestic viewers, it is purely the commercial sector.

[Salty25]

You're missing the point Salty, the only successful defence that licencees have put forward to date, has been that they thought it was legal, this will put paid to that one, as it will be plainly printed on the card by the supplier that it isn't.

They all know that they cannot stop the card sales to the man on the street, but they are not that concerned about domestic viewers, it is purely the commercial sector.

Yeah, you are right. Still, why is it illegal for non-3pm kickoffs? I think I'm having a moment, but since I'm digging the hole, I may as well get to China!

[rolfw]

Because there is no UK copyright for 3PM football, so nobody can resell it here.

PS. Sorry misread your post. ART do not carry copyright for the UK on their cards and certainly not to resell rebroadcasting rights, all of the cards they sell are for personal/domestic use.

[Salty25]

That makes sense. Having said that, much of the Premier League's argument appears to be centred on the 'Frontier' directive, so surely DigitALB would come under that directive - are Albania not a ECC member? (ECC is different from EU is it not?). Thank God I'm not a lawyer!

Edit - Just thought, what about Nova of Greece, Greece is an EU member, and alot of licencees use them?

[rolfw]

The Frontier directive is a red herring when it comes to copyright, at the moment copyright is sold on national boundaries, so standard international copyright takes priority.

Whether this will be the case in the long term is a different matter.

[digidude]

the FAPL only actually commit to naming ART though, my view is that they now feel threatened that their stinking monopolisation of this service in the UK may be (and should be) broken up. BT were forced to do it, the railway service was forced to do it, hell, even the post office was forced to do it.

you cant tell me that nobody is paying for this blatently illegal practice of forcing people to pay over the odds for a service to be overlooked

[rolfw]

Not wishing to sound pedantic, but of course there is a monopoly by the FAPL, it is their product, are you suggesting that the FAPL be broken up and the individual clubs sell their rights separately?

[wod]

wonder what my local is going to do then if pubs are warned as i doubt they are going to remove the two dishes they had for ages

[rolfw]

I'm sure that many will bluff it out, only time will tell.

[Drondo]

I've seen that as part of a pub's package some installers are offering ART + £250,000 insurance to cover legal costs.

Can't wait to watch ART 5 at 3pm 19/8/2006, 135 years of hurt never stopped me dreaming! I notice this match is also on Supersport3, I can't imagine too many Reading or Boro fans in Greece!

[RedDevil_UK]

the FAPL only actually commit to naming ART though, my view is that they now feel threatened that their stinking monopolisation of this service in the UK may be (and should be) broken up.

well then surely Sky are a monopoly too then? lets break them up (yea yea yea )
for me, i will still try and get the ART card, not because its cheaper... money isnt the issue with me... the fact they show more games i want to see, is my priority.
if Sky turned round as said i can have a Man United viewing season ticket for £100 a year like ART, i would snap there hand off.

until that day..........

[digidude]

Not wishing to sound pedantic, but of course there is a monopoly by the FAPL, it is their product, are you suggesting that the FAPL be broken up and the individual clubs sell their rights separately?

sorry, i meant Sky, and the way the threaten pubs etc

Joe Ibrahim, managing director, Digital Sales
“The Premier League & Media Protection Services claims it is illegal to use a European satellite system in this country. But we have written confirmation from the UK Patent Office and the Department of Trade and Industry that it is not illegal. If it had been illegal these bodies would have issued proceedings against us.
We received confirmation of this in 2000 and again in December 2005 and with a recent communication as of six weeks ago there has been no change.
I have also spoken to the EC which in turn confirmed that there is nothing illegal in what we are doing.
Under the free movement of goods act if someone even tried to put an embargo on the receivers coming in to the UK then they would be prosecuted under European law.
Digital Sales as a company does not mislead anyone, what we give the customer is the hard facts.
We do not and will not use any unofficial means of supplying the program. Some companies are setting up a card sharing service.
This will never be available from Digital Sales as this is clearly illegal. I would also warn any publican who is offered a service where you pay a weekly rental and you have no card, just a dream box, and must be connected to a telephone line to steer clear of it.
After speaking to a number of barristers and also attending the now famous Bolton Crown Court case the consensus of opinion is that it is at most a civil matter not criminal. Even the Crown Court judge said it needed to go before the High Court chancery division if the Premier League wanted to try to make it illegal to use or sell these systems.
Publicans are being charged for being dishonest for using the system. But can someone define what ‘dishonest’ means in this context - publicans need to know.
I was arrested over the supplying of these cards and then discharged by the police. Their exact words were ‘we have no crime to charge you with’. So the big question from my understanding is as follows: if this is a civil matter, then why is it being pursued through a criminal court?
My own view is this: if they were to pursue it through a civil court it would cost the Premier League a lot of money. To pursue the matter through a criminal court would cost the taxpayer money - that’s you and me. To conclude, this matter will not go away. If the Premier League and MPS are so convinced it is illegal, let’s be told what law is being broken."

[rolfw]

Digital sales have a distinct interest in trying to make it look to Publicans that there is nothing illegal in the use of these cards (whether civil or criminal) for commercial performances/rebroadcasts (they do charge a rather high premium on them). To call them chancers may perhaps be too strong, but they, along with a couple of other companies have built up a very lucrative business out of a dubious legal copyright loophole.

Again they attempt to muddy the waters by trying to bring the domestic viewers into the frame, when we all know that there is very little the copyright holders can do about them and are probably not that interested in so doing, but it is the commercial use of domestic subscriptions from overseas providers which is the case in point.

I'd love to see a firm and official outcome to these cases in either direction and if it comes out on the side of the Publicans, then all the better. In fact it would then mean that by avoiding the Sky subscription in a legitimate way, they wouldn't be forced to use these chancer companies who charge ridiculous premiums for very basic setups and cards of which we all know the true market prices.