makouns_grin Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 EU backs fans watching football on cheap decoders Published: 9 minutes ago BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union's highest court says that football fans should be free to use the cheapest satellite decoder available to watch games, even if it sidesteps exclusive national broadcasting agreements. The European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday that broadcasters setting up exclusive contracts for each EU nation and seeking to prohibit viewers from watching games with a cheap decoder card in another member state "is contrary to EU law," a decision which goes against England's lucrative Premier League. The decision could have a huge impact on how the rights of England's Premier League are sold in the rest of Europe and how it creates revenue for the world's richest football league. Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Welcome to the end of the PL TV Rights settlement. Coming soon - clubs selling their TV rights seperately - OR the European Super League....? Take your pick. Its a ridiculous decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Surely this **** over sky somewhat though? Is that not a good thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Why would it affect SKY at all? The PL will either sell Sky the total pan European rights for them to subcontract out thus ensuring the status quo OR deal with all the clubs separately and snap up all the rights that way. SKY wont lose anything and the clubs can't afford them to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b6bloke Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 BSKYB shares just dropped 3% straight away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Why would it affect SKY at all? The PL will either sell Sky the total pan European rights for them to subcontract out thus ensuring the status quo OR deal with all the clubs separately and snap up all the rights that way. SKY wont lose anything and the clubs can't afford them to. The premier league was formed based on the collective selling of broadcast rights. Why would the clubs vote in a majority to break that up when it would only help the biggest few? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Why would it affect SKY at all? The PL will either sell Sky the total pan European rights for them to subcontract out thus ensuring the status quo OR deal with all the clubs separately and snap up all the rights that way. SKY wont lose anything and the clubs can't afford them to. The premier league was formed based on the collective selling of broadcast rights. Why would the clubs vote in a majority to break that up when it would only help the biggest few? Then look at option A. Sky buys ALL the rights on a pan European basis and then re-sells them, to other broadcasters. The price will be the same via Sky or any other European provider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Why would it affect SKY at all? The PL will either sell Sky the total pan European rights for them to subcontract out thus ensuring the status quo OR deal with all the clubs separately and snap up all the rights that way. SKY wont lose anything and the clubs can't afford them to. The premier league was formed based on the collective selling of broadcast rights. Why would the clubs vote in a majority to break that up when it would only help the biggest few? Then look at option A. Sky buys ALL the rights on a pan European basis and then re-sells them, to other broadcasters. The price will be the same via Sky or any other European provider. How will they sell the permier league in contries like Spain and Germany who have their own strong leagues or in countries like Poland or Hungary where wages are much lower for the same price they are currently selling it in the UK? They will have to keep the prices lower there to get sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Why would it affect SKY at all? The PL will either sell Sky the total pan European rights for them to subcontract out thus ensuring the status quo OR deal with all the clubs separately and snap up all the rights that way. SKY wont lose anything and the clubs can't afford them to. The premier league was formed based on the collective selling of broadcast rights. Why would the clubs vote in a majority to break that up when it would only help the biggest few? Then look at option A. Sky buys ALL the rights on a pan European basis and then re-sells them, to other broadcasters. The price will be the same via Sky or any other European provider. How will they sell the permier league in contries like Spain and Germany who have their own strong leagues or in countries like Poland or Hungary where wages are much lower for the same price they are currently selling it in the UK? They will have to keep the prices lower there to get sales. Do you really think that will happen? Anyone using a "foreign" system at present will be able to do so, but they will have to pay an increased price for their service because the ultimate rights holder will be Sky - who will then license to a 3rd partty across Europe. Sky get paid whatever happens, and if there is an appetite for Premier League football across Europe (which there clearly is since its already being broadcasted) the money will still roll in. If Sky hold the pan Euro rights, they can refuse to sell those for the 3pm saturday games thus essentially making the use of a foreign system redundant anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Why would it affect SKY at all? The PL will either sell Sky the total pan European rights for them to subcontract out thus ensuring the status quo OR deal with all the clubs separately and snap up all the rights that way. SKY wont lose anything and the clubs can't afford them to. The premier league was formed based on the collective selling of broadcast rights. Why would the clubs vote in a majority to break that up when it would only help the biggest few? Then look at option A. Sky buys ALL the rights on a pan European basis and then re-sells them, to other broadcasters. The price will be the same via Sky or any other European provider. How will they sell the permier league in contries like Spain and Germany who have their own strong leagues or in countries like Poland or Hungary where wages are much lower for the same price they are currently selling it in the UK? They will have to keep the prices lower there to get sales. Do you really think that will happen? Anyone using a "foreign" system at present will be able to do so, but they will have to pay an increased price for their service because the ultimate rights holder will be Sky - who will then license to a 3rd partty across Europe. Sky get paid whatever happens, and if there is an appetite for Premier League football across Europe (which there clearly is since its already being broadcasted) the money will still roll in. If Sky hold the pan Euro rights, they can refuse to sell those for the 3pm saturday games thus essentially making the use of a foreign system redundant anyway. If Sky could sell the rights across Europe at English prices they would be doing it right now. The fact is they can't. What will happen is there will be an auction for Europe as a whole rather than on a country by country basis. The price will go down in the UK but up in smaller countries so we are all paying roughly the same rate. Perhaps people here would be willing to pay a slight premium to have commentary in English but they won't be able to offer the current english prices and still sell to the entire European market. Anyway, if you think Sky won't mind this ruling why have they spent so much time and money trying to prevent it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunRickyRun Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Pan European rights are a bit of a myth and, in all likelihood, a long way off. Sky are afforded the luxury of being able to control the biggest satellite provider and the biggest satellite channels in the UK. Most other European countries split these up so that any satellite provider should, in theory, be able to bid for channels showing PL games (and then sell their boxes to the UK). There is a loophole in the rulling which protects the copyright on the PL anthems and logos. It's more likely the PL will explore these avenues (ie making sure that a copyrighted logo is displayed at all times during a broadcast). A victory for common sense but the war is far from over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 If Sky could sell the rights across Europe at English prices they would be doing it right now. The fact is they can't. I've never said they can. What will happen is there will be an auction for Europe as a whole rather than on a country by country basis. The price will go down in the UK but up in smaller countries so we are all paying roughly the same rate. Yep - a PAN EURO rights deal, thats what I said. Sky doesn't have to broadcast even though it owns the rights. Sky can sell these on where appropriate. The status quo won't change. The next TV negotiation (due about now as luck would have it) will all go to Sky. It will cost them more money, but protects their market. Perhaps people here would be willing to pay a slight premium to have commentary in English but they won't be able to offer the current english prices and still sell to the entire European market. Yes they will because the rights allow permission to broadcast. If Sky own the rights to broadcast Europewide (which they don't at present) only Sky customers will be able to access football in Europe. The European element to the rights is worth **** all compared to the UK rights and the worldwide element. Anyway, if you think Sky won't mind this ruling why have they spent so much time and money trying to prevent it? Always better to defend the status quo rather than risk the uncertainty. The PL will keep Sky happy because they need them and their money. If you think this ruling will bring about cheaper football you are sadly mistaken. Sky will either: a) pay less for the UK rights because they are now devalued as an asset. buy a new Pan Europe package and subcontract thus protecting their UK income. what they won't do is reduce their prices to pubs or domestic customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eames Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Pan European rights are a bit of a myth and, in all likelihood, a long way off The current deal is in year 2 of 3. The recent ruling essentially makes that deal illegal (if rubber stamped but the High Court) so it would have to be re-negotiated now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted October 4, 2011 VT Supporter Share Posted October 4, 2011 where can i get one of these boxes/dishes then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 I think this is great and as a hater of Sky am all for this decision Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunRickyRun Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 The recent ruling essentially makes that deal illegal (if rubber stamped but the High Court) so it would have to be re-negotiated now. Does it? The case centered on whether football matches were the intellectual propetry rights of the Premier League or not. The court has ruled that they are not since the football is not created by the premier league. However, they have ruled that the logos and music are in fact the intellectual property of the PL. It does not make any deals illegal. It just means that the PL cannot pursue anyone for brodcasting football matches under copyright law. However, it does leave the PL open to pursue anyone broadcasting their logos without permission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunRickyRun Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Yep - a PAN EURO rights deal, thats what I said. Sky doesn't have to broadcast even though it owns the rights. Sky can sell these on where appropriate. The status quo won't change. The next TV negotiation (due about now as luck would have it) will all go to Sky. It will cost them more money, but protects their market. There's a lot of flaws in this scenario. It would be ripped apart by the European competition courts. Sky, would in all likelihood, have to make their channel available to the European digital providers (remember, only in the UK are you able to own the channels and the provider). Sky would not be able to price fix this out of the range of said European providers as it would be challenged (and defeated) Therefore, eventually they would have to make the channels available at a reasonable price. For this reason, pan European rights are a long way off imo. It leaves the PL open to more legal action. They are much more liekly to instead look at the high court ruling and seek to take advantage of any loopholes. They probably wont make the mistake of having the EU look at their stringent controls over broadcasts ever again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnerking7 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 I don't get it. Just get amazing broadband and stream games - just as good quality if you're Internet is fast enough. Or am I missing the point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 shove it up your arse, murdoch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 this is good news as it weakens sky and means they have competition to show games and stop charging people a fortune Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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