The Premier League is thinking of repackaging the sale of the television rights to screen live matches in Europe to offset the impact of last year’s court ruling in the so-called ‘pub landlady’ case on its lucrative income.
Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League, has said that the competition may abandon the sale of its rights on a country-by-country basis and sell them across Europe instead, something that is more compatible with the idea of a single market.
The Premier League is thinking of repackaging the sale of the television rights to screen live matches in Europe to offset the impact of last year’s court ruling in the so-called ‘pub landlady’ case on its lucrative income.
Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League, has said that the competition may abandon the sale of its rights on a country-by-country basis and sell them across Europe instead, something that is more compatible with the idea of a single market.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled last year in a complex decision that Portsmouth pub landlady Karen Murphy could buy a satellite decoder card from broadcasters anywhere in Europe. However, pubs would still have to ask the Premier League for permission to transmit logos and other protected works which are an integral part of the broadcast.
The ECJ also upheld the right of private individuals to buy a decoder card from anywhere in Europe, although having a commentary in, say, Greek might be a disincentive.
There are several options in terms of how the rights could be repackaged. One is to reduce the number of live matches shown elsewhere in Europe and offset the loss of income by increasing the number of live games in the UK.
Another option is to sell rights on a language-by-language basis, an option that the ECJ said that it would permit. However, television markets are not necessarily structured on a linguistic basis.
UK rights are worth £1.8bn over the current three year deal which expires at the end of the 2012-13 season. Outside the UK, broadcast rights in the same period are worth £1.4bn. However, only £350m of this comes from other European countries. It is the Asian markets that are the big earners.
The Premier League has yet to decide whether to do a domestic deal or not. The real risk is how a new rights package would impact on the domestic deal if they got it wrong. The court case does not undermine the lucrative model of televised football but it does introduce new uncertainties.