Europe's highest court said that exclusive national broadcasting rights for sports such as soccer are incompatible with the single market, throwing into question the way television companies make money in the 27-nation European Union.
"A system of exclusive licences is also contrary to European Union competition law if the licence agreements prohibit the supply of decoder cards to television viewers who wish to watch the broadcasts outside the Member State for which the licence is granted," the European Court of Justice said Tuesday in a statement.
The case started when Karen Murphy, a pub landlady in Portsmouth, England, showed Premier League soccer matches shown on a Greek TV station using a legitimately-purchased Greek decoder, instead of via a more expensive Sky subscription. BSkyB, which owns exclusive rights to broadcast premier league soccer in the U.K., took her to court and in 2005, the Premier League won a criminal case against her. The U.K.'s highest court referred its questions on the case to the ECJ.
"Payment by the television stations of a premium in order to ensure themselves absolute territorial exclusivity goes beyond what is necessary to ensure the right holders appropriate remuneration, because such a practice may result in artificial price differences between the partitioned national markets," the statement said.
"Such partitioning and such an artificial price difference are irreconcilable with the fundamental aim of the Treaty, which is completion of the internal market."
Thw court also ruled that the actual soccer matches are not subject to copyright.
The premier league music, recorded films of highlights, and various graphics can be regarded as 'works' and are therefore protected by copyright, the court said, but "by contrast, the matches themselves are not works enjoying such protection."
Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones Newswires
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