Keeping an eye on the ball: ECJ to consider broadcast football licensing regime.

Lauterbach, Thorsten

Abstract

British pub landlords have long bemoaned the steep licence fees for Premiership football broadcasts charged by BSkyB. After a number of battles before Magistrates' Courts and the High Court in England, two major cases have now been referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) under the Article 234 EC procedure. The stakes for the FA Premier League and BSkyB are high, and the response from Luxembourg may well spell the end of the business model currently operated by BSkyB and the FA Premier League to licence football broadcasts. Essentially, it is a clash between copyright and competition law, two uneasy bedfellows vis-à-vis the EU Single Market programme which proclaims free trade between the member states.

Citation

LAUTERBACH, T. 2008. Keeping an eye on the ball: ECJ to consider broadcast football licensing regime. Scottish law gazette, 76(5/6), pages 96-98.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 31, 2008
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2008
• Deposit Date: Feb 16, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 20, 2024
• Journal: Scottish law gazette
• Print ISSN: 0036-9314
• Publisher: Scottish Law Agents Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 76
• Issue: 5/6
• Pages: 96-98
• Keywords: Football; Broadcasting; English football; Licensing; Copyright law; Competition law
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2243437