Date set for high court pub football hearing

05 January 2012

The High Court hearing into how the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) ruling on the use of foreign satellite football systems in pubs applies in the UK has been set for 24 February.

In October, the ECJ ruled largely in favour of Portsmouth licensee Karen Murphy in her long running battle with the Premier League over use of a Greek satellite system at her pub.

The ECJ said that restricting the sale of European foreign satellite decoder cards is “contrary to the freedom to provide services”.
The hearing on 24 February is set to examine how the ECJ ruling can be applied in Murphy’s appeal.
The judgement is expected to clarify the law on the use of foreign satellite systems in UK pubs, and could lead to a radical shake-up in the way screening rights to major sports events are sold across Europe.