The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled against the Premier League this morning stating that pubs can show football matches via foreign (European) television decoders.
The ECJ ruled that restricting the sale of European foreign satellite decoder cards is “contrary to the freedom to provide services”.
The UK Court of Appeal had asked the court to clarify in the case of Portsmouth pub licensee Karen Murphy, who had been prosecuted for screening games via a Greek decoder card, and foreign satellite suppliers.
Emeny said: “I would like to congratulate Karen on her hard work and perseverance in achieving this positive result. I am pleased this has brought clarity to an issue which has been a real bone of contention in the licensed trade.
“It is not surprising that licensees have sought alternatives to Sky TV when between 2006 and 2009 Sky increased prices for our pubs by 63%, with some bills more than doubling.
"This decision means Sky will need to change their approach to the licensed trade and I for one think this is long overdue.”
Last year, Emeny hits out at the Sky price rise, claiming it was jeopardising its long term relationship with the trade.
He said he found it “incomprehensible” that Sky could enforce a 25% price increase for their services across its estate.
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