On 4 October 2011, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of
European Union delivered its preliminary ruling on a series of
questions raised by the High Court as to whether the Premier League
can lawfully guarantee absolute territorial protection to those
broadcasters it has awarded licences to for the broadcasting of
live matches.
Facts
In common with most other owners of media content, the Premier
League seeks to maximise the commercial value of its broadcasting
rights. As a general rule, it is demand that determines the
territorial basis on which the broadcasting rights are sold, demand
tending to be for national rights rather than for global or
pan-European rights.
As the Court explains in its judgment, in order to protect the
territorial exclusivity of broadcasters, each licence holder
undertakes, in its licence agreement with the Premier League, to
prevent the public from receiving broadcasts outside the area for
which it holds its licence. These
