Hosts go to court as Spirit Group and Greene King question the legality of Saturday 'closed period'
by John Harrington
Around 100 Spirit Group and Greene King pubs have been showing Premiership football matches during the so-called 'closed period' on Saturday afternoons.
Both companies believe the law on Saturday afternoon screenings is a grey area, despite the FA Premier League insisting that showing live games between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Satur-days is illegal.
Spirit has been showing Satur-day afternoon games at around 60 of its pubs this season. Spirit used images beamed in from a foreign satellite via electronics company Nova TV.
But the pub operator abandoned the trial last week because it is awaiting the outcome of a legal action against a licensee who has been charged over showing football during the closed period.
The case involves licensee Paul Gannon, who was prosecuted for showing Premiership football on a Saturday afternoon when he appeared at Bolton Magistrates Court earlier this year.
Gannon, of the Fisherman's Inn, Hollingworth, near Roch-dale, appealed against the de- cision and his case was due to be heard at Bolton Crown Court last week but it was adjourned until February.
Details of Spirit's actions emerged last week in documents issued by Punch Taverns, which has just bought the managed pub company for £2.7bn.
Spirit said the legality of broadcasting games that are beamed in from Europe 'is still under debate, as EU rules state that the free movement of services and competition should be encouraged'.
Spirit's commercial director Andrew Knight said: 'All of the legal advice we had until this point was there was no case in law to say if this is or isn't illegal.'
Knight said Spirit abandoned the trial because it did not want to put the company's managers at risk.
The Licensing Act states that receiving illegal foreign broadcasts could result in the loss of personal licences.
'As soon as we heard that the case was being adjourned we made the decision that we can't wait until February to find out if it is legal or not,' added Knight.
In addition, Spirit manager Stephen Nolan, of the Sawyers Arms in Deansgate, Manchester, pleaded not guilty at Manchester Magistrates Court this week to showing illegal satellite programmes during the closed period. The case has been adjourned until March.
However, Media Protection Services, which investigates illegal screenings, said several licensees had been prosecuted at magistrates court for showing games in the closed period.
Meanwhile, a source at Greene King told the MA this week that it is also using foreign satellite decoders to show matches at 43 of its pubs.
l Irish Pubs pubco pays Sky £65,000 damages - p6
Coulson: it is illegal
Morning Advertiser legal expert Peter Coulson says showing live Premiership football on Saturday afternoon is 'definitely illegal'.
'I've consistently advised pubs in the Morning Advertiser that the showing of Premiership Football on Saturday afternoons in definitely illegal,' he stressed.
Coulson said Spirit's argument that showing closed period games could be legal on the grounds that the EU wants to promote competition is a 'red herring'.
He said the issue was not about competition as there was a level playing field at the moment because no company was allowed to broadcast games in the closed period.
Coulson also said that using a decoder to show live football from abroad was illegal even if games were shown outside the closed period. This is because Sky owns the copyright to Premiership games that are shown in the UK.