Pub football court case kicks off

Karen Murphy is appealing against the Crown Court's ruling

The High Court is considering whether a pub should be allowed to show live English Premier League football matches from foreign broadcasts.

Karen Murphy of the Red, White and Blue pub in Southsea, Hampshire is appealing a Crown Court verdict that she could not show the games.

It is a test case for many publicans who have tried to use alternatives to BSkyB and Setanta's services.

The FA Premier League is fighting the case to protect exclusivity deals.

Criminal record risk

Ms Murphy was showing live matches through a Greek broadcaster called Nova, which charged her about £800 a year - compared with the £6,000 that she would have had to pay Sky for the service.

The FAPL is worried that if it loses the case then it will lose the ability to grant exclusive national rights to broadcasters such as BSkyB and Setanta.

If that were to happen, broadcasters would be likely to try to recoup some of the money they paid for exclusive rights.

Between them, the two firms are paying almost £1.7bn for the Premier League games over three seasons.

As it is a criminal prosecution, Ms Murphy risks having a criminal record, which would mean that her local council could decide to revoke her licence.

The case is expected to last two days.