TV in licensed premises – what you need to know

TV in licensed premises is a tricky issue. The recent court case involving a Portsmouth landlady’s bid to be able to show live Premier League football via foreign satellite channels, has once again thrown the spotlight on the rules for broadcasting televised events in licensed premises.

When Karen Murphy decided that her satellite TV subscription for showing Premier League games was too expensive, she used a cheaper Greek decoder in her pub to show the games, a practice which is prohibited in the television deals agreed with UK broadcasters Sky Sports and ESPN.

Despite being fined, she appealed to the European Court of Justice which ruled that national laws prohibiting the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards are contrary to the freedom to provide services under European Law.

However, before you pick up the phone to cancel your Sky Sports subscription, it’s worth noting what else the ECJ said in relation to the ruling.

The ECJ added that while live matches were not protected by copyright, any recorded element was subject to copyright, which potentially means that the opening credits and highlights are. The ECJ said that to use any of these parts of a broadcast, the pub would need the permission of the copyright holder, which in the case of football matches would be the Premier League.

So what are the other rules governing TV in pubs? Most people would class a TV as ‘entertainment’ and it would therefore be natural to assume that having a TV in your pub would need to be included in your Premises Licence, but this is not necessarily the case.  Showing live TV is not a licensable activity under the Licensing Act 2003.

Well if only things were that simple.  If you record a programme and play it later (for example a football or rugby match that is live early in the day, but which you want to show at lunchtime) that is a licensable activity and you need to include it in your Premises Licence. This is because it is classed as ‘exhibition of a film’.

If you are making a new licence application, speak to an experienced licensing solicitor who will be able to ensure this is included in your licence.

If you inherited your licence it will be prudent to check whether you are covered and to discuss a full variation of your licence, so that it covers all your requirements. It may be that the amendments sought are only ‘minor’ which is a much simpler, quicker and cheaper.

For more information on this matter, or any other licensing issue, please contact Andrew Bartlett on 01995 607950.