Licensee facing fifth prosecution for showing foreign satellite football

A licensee is facing her fifth prosecution for showing Premier League football through a foreign decoder - but her lawyer is confident of another victory.

Danielle Collins, who runs the Velvet Bar in Broad Street, Birmingham, faces prosecution by the Media Protection Services for showing an Albanian broadcast.

She has previously been prosecuted by the MPS and the Federation against Copyright Theft after being accused of screening matches on foreign channels without paying Sky TV.

Collins' solicitor Nama Zarroug, of law firm Kirwans has won all four previous cases.

And Zarroug says the ruling last month by Advocate General Julie Kokott at the European Court of Justice that such prosecutions breached EU single market rules will dramatically help pubs such as the Velvet Bar if it is made binding later in the year.

"It is nothing short of ridiculous that Miss Collins now faces her fifth prosecution having previously been cleared on key evidential issues," she said.

"The ruling by the European Court of Justice is a terrific breakthrough for hard-working publicans across the UK and the sooner it is made binding the better.

"At the moment because of its exclusivity, Sky can charge publicans exorbitant fees for the rights to show live Premier League games. For many landlords, there will be savings of as much as £12,000 a year," she added.

The Advocate General made her ruling on February 3 after hearing the case of Portsmouth landlady Karen Murphy who said that her conviction for breaching copyright laws by using a Greek decoder should be overturned.