Mass pub foreign satellite case ruling out

A group of 26 licensees from 19 pubs across the country will now each face magistrates over charges of using foreign satellite systems.

District Judge Sanders at Chester ruled against a legal challenge to the cases going forward.

Licensees at the pubs are charged with dishonestly receiving TV transmissions to broadcast Premier League football via Albanian channel DigitAlb.

The cases will now be under close scrutiny as the decoder cards originate from outside the EU. Prosecutions against pubs using EU decoder cards are on hold until the landmark Karen Murphy case can be heard in the European Courts of Justice.

Only two of the cases began in Chester, two were transferred from courts in Cheshire, and the other 15 cases have been transferred from courts throughout the country — from Ashford in Kent and Torquay in Devon to Barnsley in Yorkshire and Manchester.

Ray Hoskin, boss of Media Protection Services, which investigates the screenings, said: "Solicitors for the defence named this as a test case. They lost the test case. It's now a matter of the dishonesty of the individual publicans."

He added: "We are looking after the interests of the vast majority of the licensed trade who are paying proper commercial contracts."

All 26 hosts were represented by Paul Dixon of Molesworths Bright Clegg. "It would be wrong to suggest that today's decision by District Judge Sanders somehow dismisses these cases. We must keep things in perspective.

"The judge has merely made a decision on a preliminary issue, and while success on this issue could have resulted in all prosecutions being halted (thereby causing significant difficulties for those who pursue them), these cases will now proceed to trial in the normal way.

"I have no doubt that all of my clients will satisfy the trial court of their honesty and integrity, and the court will then dismiss these prosecutions.

"If at a later stage it becomes appropriate to challenge today's decision my clients will not hesitate to do so, in much the same way that Karen Murphy has challenged the findings of lower courts."