A POPULAR bar has been fined for showing foreign satellite TV football games.
Magistrates in Beverley have fined the owners of the Weir Bar in Hessle �3,000 plus �3,000 costs for breaching competition law by accessing satellite transmissions from Albania.
The bar's legal team argued the case should be adjourned until the European Court of Justice reached a decision over a similar case, in which a Portsmouth landlady was convicted for using a Greek service. But that argument was dismissed because the Weir Bar's signal did not originate from an EU country.
The Weir is well-known as a favourite haunt of Hull sports stars.
It is owned by Weir (Hessle) Limited. Company director Darren Goulbourne was unavailable to comment about the fine.
But his solicitor, Paul Dixon, was quoted in the Morning Advertiser, a trade paper for the pub industry, as saying: "Only last week the advocate general to the European Court of Justice condemned the way in which the Football Association Premier League markets broadcasting rights as 'tantamount to profiting from the elimination of the internal market (of the EU)' and wholly unlawful.
"Licensees, pub companies and others should treat with extreme caution any propaganda that appears to suggest that the proceedings before the Court of Justice have no relevance to the UK."
Licensees argue they should be able to legally access satellite signals from the EU.
For pubs to install a full Sky TV package can be as much as �13,000 a year.
As a result, it is not uncommon for pubs across East Yorkshire to use foreign transmissions.
Many took advantage of this to screen Hull City games when the club was in the Premier League.
Weir (Hessle) Limited pleaded guilty to breaching competition law.
The broadcasts from Albania were accessed via a decoder card. Magistrates heard the company was responsible for installing and using the system so licensees Darren Goulbourne and Julie Crane, both listed as company directors, were acquitted.
The prosecution had been brought by Media Protection Services, which is paid by the Premier League to carry out investigations.
Managing director Ray Hoskin said: "It is clear the court took the view that this case, one of many currently being conducted by us, was not affected by recent activity in the European Court.
"It is also encouraging that the defence, having failed in that application, readily accepted and admitted the company had committed the offence."
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