Watching live football on television may become cheaper in the coming years if the EU court decides, as is customary, to uphold the opinion of its Attorney General.
The opinion, given by the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) Attorney General Juliane Kokkot in a case instituted by the owner of a British pub, states that territorial exclusivity agreements relating to transmission of football matches on TV is in breach of EU law.
Sources close to both Go and Melita Cable, which hold the transmission rights to football matches in Malta, told The Sunday Times they were closely monitoring the case since it could have a direct impact on the way future television rights were sold.
Go currently holds annual licences worth millions of euros to exclusively broadcast Italian Serie A and UK Premier League matches, after Melita failed to obtain the rights.
Melita still holds the transmission rights of the UEFA Champions League, which means local football fans have no choice but to subscribe to two TV service providers to watch all the matches.
However, the ECJ decision, expected to be delivered in a few months, may change the situation.
“If the ECJ upholds the opinion of its AG a whole revolution in the way football rights are administered in Europe will surely start... This will create an unprecedented situation and we don’t really know how this lucrative TV rights market will develop,” Go sources said.
The case involves a British citizen, Karen Murphy, owner of a pub in Portsmouth, who uses a Greek decoder card to show live Premier League matches broadcast by Hellenic company Nova.
A subscription to Nova is much cheaper than a subscription to Sky or ESPN, which hold exclusive broadcast rights to live Premier League football in the UK.
The Football Association Premier League Ltd (FAPL), a private company set up to represent the broadcasting interests of English football clubs, sells exclusive TV rights to broadcasters across Europe on a territory-by-territory basis.
Enforcers acting for FAPL prosecuted Ms Murphy for screening matches on Nova in her pub. She was convicted and fined €9,500 on the basis that only games broadcast by Sky or ESPN could be shown in the UK.
After the case ended up in the European Court, the AG decided that “the exclusivity rights in question have the effect of partitioning the internal market into quite separate national markets; something which constitutes a serious impairment of the freedom to provide services in the EU”.
Melita and Go sources said that although the case could translate into cheaper football for Maltese enthusiasts in the long-run, since the rights would be opened up for more competition, in Malta many were already watching football illegally through the Dreambox system.
“Cheaper rights might at least drive the illegalities out of Malta,” a Melita source said.
“Everyone knows that following the switchover of Serie A and Premiership matches to Go a number of people started using a Dreambox, which transmits these games illegally. We are also seeing a surge in people accessing these games on the internet. Although this will not last long as all these illegalities will eventually be blocked, cheaper rights could force people to resort to the legal channels,” the Melita source said.