Pub owners fined over foreign satellite football
Magistrates yesterday rejected an application for a pub foreign satellite football case to be adjourned until the European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules on the issue.
The case saw The Weir (Hessle) Ltd, which owns the Weir pub, in North Humberside, fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 costs.
Media Protection Services, which brought the prosecution, accepted a plea of guilty on the basis the owners were responsible for the installation and use of the system.
The pub's two licensees, Darren Goulbourne and Julie Crane, who pleaded not guilty, were acquitted.
The system used is believed to have been from Albania, outside the EU.
Last week an advocate general at the ECJ said pubs should be allowed to use foreign decoder cards, but her opinion is not legally binding.
Ray Hoskin, Media Protection Services' managing director, said: "It is clear the court took the view this case, one of many currently being conducted by us, was not affected by recent activity in the European Court.
"It is also encouraging that the defence, having failed in that application, readily accepted and admitted that the company had committed the offence.
"This leaves in no doubt that in addition to licensees we intend to bring prosecutions against pub companies who permit the installation of these systems."
Solicitor Paul Dixon, of Molesworth Bright Clegg, representing the Weir, said: "We cannot comment on an isolated case before lay magistrates in Beverley while we are considering further courses of action with our client company."
But he added: "Only last week the advocate general to the European Court of Justice condemned the way in which the Football Association Premier League markets broadcasting rights as "tantamount to profiting from the elimination of the internal market (of the EU)" and wholly unlawful.
"Licensees, pub companies and others should treat with extreme caution any propaganda that appears to suggest that the proceedings before the Court of Justice have no relevance to the UK."
