Premier League issues "absolute confirmation" on ART satellite
The FA Premier League says it has today issued "absolute confirmation" that Arabic satellite TV channel ART has no rights to show Premiership football in the UK.
In a letter seen by the Morning Advertiser, ART's partner company IMG Media Limited says it has issued this letter to "assist publicans in the United Kingdom and to prevent them being fooled by suppliers".
IMG says it took the step of issuing this letter after an earlier one from ART's offices in Germany was challenged by suppliers.
LetterIn the letter released today, IMG says: "The purpose of this letter is (i) to confirm the validity of that letter dated 31st August 2006; and (ii) to confirm that IMG Media Limited is the authorized licensee of the broadcasting rights for the territory of the Middle East and North Africa in respect of the Barclays Premier League and that ART is IMG Media Limited's sole authorised sub-licensee of such rights.
ART has no right to broadcast outside the territory of North Africa and the Middle East and, in particular, has no rights whatsoever to broadcast within the United Kingdom Letter from IMG Media which licences rights to ART
"IMG Media confirms it acquired the aforementioned rights for the seasons 2004/05, 2005/06 and 2006/07 for the FA Premier League and that it sub-licensed these exclusive rights solely to ART.
"It is a condition of the licence which IMG Media has with the FA Premier League (and accordingly, it is a condition of the sub-licence which ART has with IMG Media Limited) that IMG Media Limited (and by extension, ART) has no right to broadcast outside the territory of North Africa and the Middle East and, in particular, has no rights whatsoever to broadcast within the United Kingdom."
To see a copy of the full letter click here.
Media Protection ServicesRay Hoskin from Media Protection Services, the company which prosecutes foreign satellite users on behalf of the FA Premier League, said: "For months we have been aware that the licensed trade has been totally misled by the importers and sellers of illegal decoder cards.
"For that reason we have withdrawn several cases where it became obvious such deception had taken place.
"We are now releasing absolute confirmation that none of the dealers who publish misleading information on their websites have any rights whatsoever to sell these cards in the UK.
"This will undoubtedly assist the licensed trade in coming to a balanced view and prevent any further misinformation by dealers."
The Premier League has similar letters from Greek and Albanian channels and Canal+ plus of Scandinavia and said licensees who have any concerns about the use of foreign satellite systems can contact them via email at generalinfo@fapl.co.uk
