The Premier League has announced plans to investigate pubs offering live premiership football via sources other than Sky and BT.
There will be more pub visits and inspections than in any previous season following the ban of streaming site First Row Sports.
Glasgow-based firm ID Inquiries has been appointed by the Premier League to monitor pubs that may be making use of overseas satellite feeds and illegal websites.
Read Recombu Digital’s guides to Sky Sports and BT SportA Premier League spokesperson said:
“This newly enhanced investigations programme follows recent successes in the High Court, including injunctions against the use of foreign satellite systems, and unauthorised streaming websites, being used in commercial premises to broadcast Premier League football.
All of the UK’s major ISPs are now required to block First Row Sports, but canny publicans may be tempted to make use of smaller ISPs or resort to proxies to get round the blocks. The Premier League insists that anyone not broadcasting premiership games from either of the official channels will find themselves in hot water:
“We remind all publicans that Sky Sports and BT Sport are the only authorised broadcasters of live Premier League matches in the UK and that legal action will be taken against those who use unauthorised satellite systems to show Premier League matches in commercial premises.”
Any unscripted live event like a football match or news can’t be copyrighted. What you can copyright however are things like graphics, team icons, music. It’s these parts of a broadcast that are considered to be the intellectual property of the Premier League, not the live events themselves.
Though publican Karen Murphy won her legal fight with the Premier League last year, the European Court of Justice ruled that any landlords using continental satellite systems to show Premier League games would be liable for prosecution.
The 2013/14 Premier League season begins on Saturday, August 17 2013.
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/6834003426/sizes/l/in/photostream/
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