British pub owners to get their day in European court | |
British pub and bar owners have had a long-running dispute with BSkyB over the cost of screening Premier League soccer matches, and there have been a dozen and one ruses attempted to by-pass the rules. Pubs have now won a small but important victory: a judge has allowed them to take their case to the European Court of Justice.
The argument revolves around the freedom to watch TV signals from a nearby region. The Football Association Premier League (FAPL) has an action running against a group of bar-owners as well as a number of importers of foreign satellite equipment and so-called smart cards.
The decoder cards allow the pubs to view Premier League games when transmitted on other European channels, not normally available in the UK. The equipment and legitimate smart cards are also significantly cheaper than the costs levied by BSkyB.
The defendants in the case have argued that, under European single market rules, the FAPL is not entitled to stop the decoder cards being imported to the UK. In the London High Court of Justice, Mr Justice Kitchin agreed to the defendants' request to have the case referred to the European Court of Justice. The judge told the Court that he tended to agree with the points of law argued by the defendants. A win for the pubs and bars would inevitably lead to a significant loss of income for BSkyB.
Source: Rapid Tv News |