BBC News - Pub can use foreign decoder for Premier League games

Hmmm …

You know, former barman that I am … ?

The link just immediately below this was always going to grab my attention.

BBC News - Pub can use foreign decoder for Premier League games

Like you couldn’t have guessed.

At ANY rate, let me try and quickly summarise for you.

Pub landlady, Karen Murphy has been running a pub for some time, and, like a lot of pub managers, had to fork out a fortune to pay for a Sky TV connection, to let her customers watch Premier League football.

So switched to using a Greek satellite box.

Sky and ESPN, who have the rights to assorted sporting events in the UK, sued.

Leaving Karen to fork out £8000 in various fines and costs.

She took it all the way up to the European Central Court.

Who, today, have ruled that national bans on foreign decoders can’t “be justified either in light of the objective of protecting intellectual property rights or by the objective of encouraging the public to attend football stadiums”.

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Personally … ?

I can’t but help think that’s a good thing, frankly.

You see, I spent quite a few years on the ramp at a few years.

And the one I worked at for the longest … ?

Had its Sky TV connection taken out at one point, due to the sheer cost of the thing*.

And lost custom, from virtually the word go.

Being able to shop around would’ve been handy, there.

»»·««

Which I’m thinking is sort of my point, here.

You see, I’ve always felt ambiguous about Sky TV, I really have.

On the one hand … ?

I’ve always thought it would be ice to catch some of the science fiction it shows: things like the remake of Battlestar Galactica, to give you an example. Stuff like that’s usually not screen on terrestrial over here, on a regular basis.

On the other hand … ?

I can do without TONS of sports channels.

Actually, I can do without the tons of channels available on my Freeview digital TV set-top-box.

But I’m ALSO very aware that the pub industry’s relied on Sky to provide a HUGE amount of income: Premiership matches being as popular as they are.

So from where I’m sitting … ?

Where I’m sitting this EU ruling may have wider implications than just sports broadcasting.

But if it means a cheaper supply of something that a whole industry is reliant on … ?

THAT’S a good thing.

* So you know: here in the UK, television’s broadcast through three different mediums: what’s called terrestrial TV is received through an old-fashiod ærial. Satellite tv — Sky is the dominant UK satellite broadcaster — is received through a satellite dish, instead of an ærial. There’s also cable — which isn’t available everywhere — and the various IPTV/Internet TV connections, as well.