Foreign satellite football warning for pubs

[BGonaSTICK]

Licensees are being warned not to install Arabic satellite channel ART to show Premiership football after the company printed explicit warnings about its legality in the UK.

The warnings, on the back of their decoder cards, say it is a criminal offence to use them in Europe.

This card is strictly intended to be used in the following countries. Algeria,Chad, Libya, Djibouti, Mauritania, Morocco, Somalia, Tunisia. Any use outside of said territory constitutes a criminal act.

Warning on back of new ART cards

Licensees up and down the country have been using ART - The Arab Radio and Television Network - to show Premiership football for a fraction of a Sky subscription.

Leading satellite supplier Joe Ibrahim of Digital Sales in Lancashire said he hopes the move will make life difficult for cowboys cashing in on the confusion that surrounds foreign satellite systems.

He said: "Digital Sales only offer systems that originate in the EEC, these Arabic cards which are being brought in to the UK are usually smuggled in without payment of duty or Tax and they clearly do not come under the Television Without Frontiers directive for EEC members."

Dan Johnson of the FA Premier League said plans were afoot to make all foreign channels which buy Premiership football carry similar warnings on their smartcards.

He said: "This confirms what the Premier League and MPS have been saying all along; the use of these systems is illegal and the suppliers of them to the UK market have no legitimate contract with the likes of ART and other foreign broadcasters.

"Our advice to the trade is simple; don’t install these systems because you will face prosecution."

"If you’ve already had one put in, contact the company who supplied it ask them to remove it and for your money back."

A warning issued by the TV station says: "If we receive information our cards are being used illegally in the UK we will immediately switch off such cards"

Source: Morning Advertiser

[Jimdefruit]

If the FA Premiership were not so greedy, they wouldn't sell transmission right to these countries.

The card providers don't say under which national law, the cards are illegal and I think the whole thing is a legal minefield. At present, the only option the authorities have are scare tactics.

A ban on the use of official cards will ultimately lead to the production of clones and then the TV providers will lose out. They could of course have designed the transponders to provide limited footprints but then their income would be cut severely.

I wonder who is really behind the pressure on Arabesque. :?