PL targets Cardiff and Swansea pubs over illegal screenings

Thursday 23rd January 2014.


Pubs in Cardiff and Swansea suspected of showing Premier League football matches illegally using foreign satellites face prosecution, BBC Wales has learned.

In the last four months the Premier League's private investigation firm has visited nearly 200 pubs in south Wales.

The League is planning to bring up to 100 prosecutions across Wales and England this season.

The first will be against The Rhyddings Hotel in Brynmill, Swansea, shortly.

Many south Wales pubs have subscriptions with foreign channels and show Cardiff City and Swansea City's 15:00 GMT Saturday Premier League kick-offs.

These games are unavailable on the Premier League's authorised UK broadcasters - Sky Sports and BT Sport - at the kick-off time.

In 2011 Karen Murphy, a Portsmouth pub landlady, won a court case against the Premier League.

The ruling effectively proved it is legal to buy a TV subscription from anywhere in the EU.

However, when a pub or club uses such a subscription to show Premier League football matches, it is breaking copyright law if the League's logo is shown in on-screen graphics, or if the League's anthem is heard before kick-off or at half time.

Tom Richards, a barrister specialising in copyright law, said it was unlikely a pub could screen the games without breaching Premier League copyright.

"The Premier League owns the copyright in its logo, in its anthem and in other bits of sound recording and artwork which are superimposed on any feed of a Premier League match," he said.

"If you play those in a pub without the Premier League's consent that's copyright infringement in the law of copyright.

"Technically speaking, there is a loophole.

"If you could separate out the copyrighted content, such as the Premier League logo, from the match footage, then in theory you wouldn't be infringing copyright.

"In practice it's rather doubtful whether that can be achieved because the Premier League - you can be confident - will make it as hard as possible to separate out the protected from the unprotected content."

Some pubs try to use this loophole by blocking out graphics of the Premier League logo.

But the League says its private investigation firm, ID Inquiries, has not come across any "masking technology" that would stop it taking action against a pub.

So far this season ID Inquiries has visited 195 pubs in the Cardiff and Swansea areas and is planning legal action against "a small number of them".

'Black spots'
Dan Johnson, the Premier League's director of communications, said: "BT Sport and Sky Sports invest huge amounts of money in the Premier League and that then is in turn invested by the clubs in new stadia, developing players, acquiring players, the whole range of things that make Premier League football so popular.


"So anything that damages the ability of broadcasters to invest in that has the potential to damage the ability of the clubs to invest in that.

"With the advent of Cardiff and Swansea being in the Premier League clearly the interest in Premier League football has gone through the roof in south Wales.

"So, it becomes an area of interest and you can go round the country and you can see these blackspots where Premier League football is of great interest, and people will try and utilise that interest to their advantage, including pubs and clubs.

"We want to help pubs, we want to help educate licensees, and when we go in and find use of foreign satellite systems we'll give them the opportunity to get rid of that system."

"So if in the first instance - they say 'we hear you, we'll get rid of this system and we'll get a legitimate one' - they will face no further action and we don't want to be going round the country prosecuting pubs and licensees.

"However if they choose not to, they face the very real prospect of prosecution."

Mr Johnson says the League expects to bring up to 100 prosecutions this season across Wales and England.

The action against The Rhyddings Hotel in Swansea is the League's first prosecution since the Karen Murphy case and is expected to be heard in the next few weeks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25849670

Pubs in Cardiff and Swansea suspected of showing Premier League football matches illegally using foreign satellites face prosecution, BBC Wales has learned.

In the last four months the Premier League's private investigation firm has visited nearly 200 pubs in south Wales.

The League is planning to bring up to 100 prosecutions across Wales and England this season.

The first will be against The Rhyddings Hotel in Brynmill, Swansea, shortly.

Many south Wales pubs have subscriptions with foreign channels and show Cardiff City and Swansea City's 15:00 GMT Saturday Premier League kick-offs.

These games are unavailable on the Premier League's authorised UK broadcasters - Sky Sports and BT Sport - at the kick-off time.

In 2011 Karen Murphy, a Portsmouth pub landlady, won a court case against the Premier League.

The ruling effectively proved it is legal to buy a TV subscription from anywhere in the EU.

However, when a pub or club uses such a subscription to show Premier League football matches, it is breaking copyright law if the League's logo is shown in on-screen graphics, or if the League's anthem is heard before kick-off or at half time.

Tom Richards, a barrister specialising in copyright law, said it was unlikely a pub could screen the games without breaching Premier League copyright.

"The Premier League owns the copyright in its logo, in its anthem and in other bits of sound recording and artwork which are superimposed on any feed of a Premier League match," he said.

"If you play those in a pub without the Premier League's consent that's copyright infringement in the law of copyright.

"Technically speaking, there is a loophole.

"If you could separate out the copyrighted content, such as the Premier League logo, from the match footage, then in theory you wouldn't be infringing copyright.

"In practice it's rather doubtful whether that can be achieved because the Premier League - you can be confident - will make it as hard as possible to separate out the protected from the unprotected content."

Some pubs try to use this loophole by blocking out graphics of the Premier League logo.

But the League says its private investigation firm, ID Inquiries, has not come across any "masking technology" that would stop it taking action against a pub.

So far this season ID Inquiries has visited 195 pubs in the Cardiff and Swansea areas and is planning legal action against "a small number of them".

'Black spots'
Dan Johnson, the Premier League's director of communications, said: "BT Sport and Sky Sports invest huge amounts of money in the Premier League and that then is in turn invested by the clubs in new stadia, developing players, acquiring players, the whole range of things that make Premier League football so popular.


"So anything that damages the ability of broadcasters to invest in that has the potential to damage the ability of the clubs to invest in that.

"With the advent of Cardiff and Swansea being in the Premier League clearly the interest in Premier League football has gone through the roof in south Wales.

"So, it becomes an area of interest and you can go round the country and you can see these blackspots where Premier League football is of great interest, and people will try and utilise that interest to their advantage, including pubs and clubs.

"We want to help pubs, we want to help educate licensees, and when we go in and find use of foreign satellite systems we'll give them the opportunity to get rid of that system."

"So if in the first instance - they say 'we hear you, we'll get rid of this system and we'll get a legitimate one' - they will face no further action and we don't want to be going round the country prosecuting pubs and licensees.

"However if they choose not to, they face the very real prospect of prosecution."

Mr Johnson says the League expects to bring up to 100 prosecutions this season across Wales and England.

The action against The Rhyddings Hotel in Swansea is the League's first prosecution since the Karen Murphy case and is expected to be heard in the next few weeks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25849670

Already a few threads on this

Greedy c***s

TV in Swansea................whatever next

From my own personal point of view. If it wasn't for streams and live screenings in pubs I and others around the world wouldn't get to see the team they support play.

I work Saturday mornings so can't travel to most away games and if it wasn't for the live screenings I wouldn't get to see any away games. I would also like to say that I would pay the cost of a match ticket to get to see the televised games.

One option would be to have a screen at our ground and do it all proper and above board. Money to be made then

Booooo, this is prob the perk I enjoy most about the prem, if I cant make an away game I can watch it locally with a pint.

The premier league say this every year and nothing happens ,they lost the Karen murphy case ,where th. Premier league claimed copyright infringement cause of there logo s and replays as part of that but the judge dismissed this as it was part of every tv production ,as a sky and bt subscriber you are aloud to use the premier league logos in your pub ,it will be a legal minefield for them to take pubs who have sky and bt to court

The pubs are all suffering with people being skintight as we're in a recession by them showing the games they get a chance to tempt people out for a few hours, sky and bt have been extorting the market for years I hope foreign tv and the Internet makes them slash there prices and in turn reduce monies to large clubs and prevent transfer fees of 85m mentioning no names but no man is worth this with weekly wages of £300k a week when some people are struggling to earn a living and pay there bills!!!!!!!!

If they showed more live cardiff matches then there wouldn't be any need for illegal match viewings!

If they showed more live cardiff matches then there wouldn't be any need for illegal match viewings!

Don't belive the hype from BBC and premier league ,they are not illegal from Europe ,the premier league will lose again the eu courts have it right in for them

Bloated, Greedy twats and their cock sucking barristers!

TV in Swansea................whatever next

Round wheels?