Yeah, it’s the same everywhere - if you know the right pubs you can watch pretty much any big match regardless of kick-off times, or whether they are “officially” televised in the UK. The difference is that up until now, a lot of publicans felt as if they had no option but to stump up for Sky, fearful of the repercussions if they are prosecuted. While some places are now brazen enough to openly advertise Saturday 3pm kick-offs, the authorities have always stressed the illegality of this, with threats of huge fines for transgressors.
It has taken Karen Murphy four years since she was convicted and fined £8,000 for breach of copyright to get this far. She had one appeal dismissed by the High Court, and it has obviously taken her a lot of time and money to fight against a huge organisation which seemed to hold all the aces. Fair play to her.
EDIT: Hadn't previously seen the thread on this topic, sorry. Conrad/Dave, please feel free to merge these posts accordingly.
Last edited by Evil Gazebo; 03-02-2011 at 23:04. Reason: Lazy Gazebo
And you can really taste the hops!
Headline of the year from The Gloucestershire Echo
And you can really taste the hops!
I'll shed no tears for Sky or the Premier League. Our social club had to chuck Sky out last time the subs went up thanks to the astonishing price charged - not far off a grand a month. No way would the extra custom make the money back. Sky have lost out thanks to their own greed and good riddance too.
People need to be a bit careful here - this is a "non-binding opinion" from the Advocate General and not the final European Court of Justice decision, which could be quite different... (although hopefully not).
And these people still need to be very careful as the advocate's opinion, even if upheld by the final court decision, applies only to European Union countries - a status which Albania is probably some way off achieving...