Football Leagues/ Association and Governance | Football Sponsors/ Sponsorship and Media
A Portsmouth landlady is currently doing battle with lawyers for the English Premier League in a bid to prove that the top flight's system of granting territorial monopolies on TV rights contravenes EU law.
Karen Murphy, who runs The Red, White and Blue pub in Fratton, claims she was priced out of her Sky Sports subscription - which costs venues more than £1,000 a month - and was forced to acquire a cheaper Greek satellite system instead.
"I think I should have freedom of choice," she told BBC News. "It's not like I went to buy something illegal. I just went to buy it from a different company."
Ms Murphy's case is that restricting broadcasting rights to a single outlet breaks European legislation relating to freedom of trade and the movement of services between EU countries.
The English Premier League is believed to have grown increasingly concerned about UK pubs and clubs rejecting Sky in favour of inexpensive foreign broadcasters, a practice which has become widespread in recent years.
Written by Mark Thompson
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21 October 2010
21 October 2010
21 October 2010
20 October 2010
20 October 2010
