Monday, August 21, 2006

No Andy Gray, No Chris Kamara, and It Isn't Owned by Murdoch

That's Al Jazeera's Sports Plus channel, which some British pubs have taken to using for its coverage of Premiership footie.

"The Premier League says the only legal way to watch its soccer matches in a local commercial setting is through the British Sky Broadcasting Group, which is far more expensive than the foreign options.

“It’s illegal and it’s copyright theft,” said Dan Johnson, a league spokesman. “We sell to Sky, and they have the sole rights to show league matches."

Ah yes, I see. We have no choice.

4 comments:

Reidski said...

One of my regular haunts in New Cross was showing the Man Ure game via Arabic TV yesterday afternoon. I only know this cos none of my usual haunts was showing the Celtic game, preferring that Gaelic pish instead to appease the local Irish punters in the area. After seeing the final result, it was fair enough of course!!

John said...

And ironically it was Setanta that was showing the Villa match on Saturday.

Martin said...

We get this on Sunday nights in the pub, the bonus being extended highlights of a top flight French match.

John said...

Sorry, Mart, couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic or not there.