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A dispute in the UK over TV content rights may lead to Internet rights restrictions being blown away.

To protect two of it exclusive rights deals the English football (soccer) Premier League recently launched two prosecutions against a bar owner in the south of England and two suppliers of TV decoders. The thrust of the argument is that the bar owner is accessing a Greek satellite channel in order to show Premier League matches and the suppliers are providing decoders and smart cards which enable access to non UK broadcasters. This undermines the UK and Ireland Exclusive deals the Premier League has signed with satellite broadcaster BSkyB and Setanta.

The Premier League launched the case believing a win to be a formality but last week the UK’s Highest Court referred both cases to the European Court of Justice. Not good for the League as it opens up the possibility that the Court may rule against them on the basis that exclusive territorial deals are in effect barriers to the free distribution of decoder cards across the European Union States thereby allowing rights holders to create price differentials and limit customer choice.

Financially this will be a massive blow to TV rights values. The ‘exclusive territory’ element of sports rights deals accounts for anywhere between 40% and 60% of the total deal value. Interestingly though, if the ruling does go against the Premier League it may be the breeze to blow against the house of cards which controls rights across the Internet. Currently major rights holders make content available in deals giving publishers geographical exclusivity in a similar way to the TV rights. Anyone trying to access that content from outside the agreed territory is blocked (’Geo-Blocking’). Admittedly it is a big leap but it is conceivable that geo-exclusive deals would be deemed illegal, at least across the European States.

I just caught the scent of revolution in the air.

Tags: BSkyB, English Premier League, Setanta

BSkyB the UK Satellite caster has reportedly increased its stake in Shine Group to 11.3% for an undisclosed sum. The deal has reportedly increased Sky’s shareholding from 2.88% to 11.3%.

Shine was founded by Elisabeth Murdoch shortly after she stepped down as MD of Sky Networks in 2000. It is thought that Sky, owned by Murdoch’s father Rupert, has held a stake for some time. Following acquisitive activity, Shine is now one of the largest UK indies and has been valued at up to £250m (US$500m).

Shine Ltd is an integrated media company that, through its subsidiaries, carries out film and television production, brand marketing and rights expoitation.

Shine TV and Films makes a range of programmes for UK, US and international broadcasters. The company conducts drama, entertainment, factual, features and format entertainment programming and has been involved in programmes such as Channel 4’s “100 Greatest…” series, BBC 2’s Masterchef Goes Large and Channel 4’s drama series Sugar Rush. The company aims to be a dynamic, creative and trustworthy supplier of franchise television to all buyers and strives to create television that will reach the audience in multiple ways, through interactive communcations, books, music or DVDs.

Shine’s brand marketing and venture programming company, Shine:M, is a joint venture between Shine and WPP. It is intended to bring together the TV and film activities of Shine and the media capabilities of WPP’s media investment management companies. Clients will be able to create, own and commercially exploit their own television formats through distribution, marketing, licensing and retailing.

Shine aims to benefit from and capitalise on its management team’s knowledge, expertise and contacts within the media industry.

Original Story 

Tags: 3i Group, BSkyB, Shine, Sony Corp, WPP