FootballRights
Latest
Sky Sports will show 100 extra La Liga matches this season
To make up for its lack of Champions League and Europa League football, Sky is doubling down on La Liga. The broadcaster will be showing over 300 matches from the Spanish division this season -- up from its usual tally of roughly 200. British interest in the league has always been high, given the quality of teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. With the extra games, however, Sky Sports customers will get to see more of football superstars Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez and Bale on their TVs. Are the fixtures enough to counterbalance the loss of the Champions League? No, but it's better than nothing. BT Sport is steadily growing its stockpile of live TV rights, so it's in Sky's interest to do the same. The company still has the lion's share of Premier League rights, but expanding its La Liga offering could stop a few unhappy subscribers from jumping ship.
European Court: It's free trade for a reason, dummy
Primer: The EU is many nations with a single market, if wine is cheaper in France, a German can simply purchase it there. It's why Apple was censured back in 2007 for territorial iTunes stores that stopped people from shopping around. Anything sold in Europe on a per-country basis hangs within a grey area of free trade. That includes what many call "The Greatest Show on Earth" -- The FA Premier League. Sky, the Premier League's media partner in Europe charges £480 ($740) a month for pub and bar owners to screen their matches in their establishments. That's what prompted cash-strapped publican Karen Murphy to buy a decoder box and card from Greece's Nova company for only £118 ($180) a month. Following a legal challenge that has lasted nearly 7 years, the European Court of Justice has ruled that whilst it's legal (or at least, not illegal) to own a foreign decoder in your own home, it is illegal for pubs and other public spaces to use them on copyright grounds. This means that many home users could snap up cheaper European services and erode the value of Sky's £1bn ($1.5bn) Premier League deal, which would make the greatest show on earth just a little less great.
