Sports rights
A New York court has made a landmark ruling that gives Irish bars in the US the right to show GAA and other major sporting events free of charge.
Premium Sports, owned by one of the founders of Setanta Sports, Shane O’Rourke, lost a legal challenge against the Old Castle Pub in Manhattan for showing a soccer game between Scotland and Wales on February 13th, 2010. The pub had used a Slingbox device in Dublin to broadcast the game and the court ruled a delay in the transmission meant the pub had not broken any rules.
The pub’s owner, Eugene Rooney, argued the delay meant the transmission was not simultaneous, and therefore not illegal.
A Slingbox is a device that allows you to watch a television remotely via the internet.
Judge Katherine Forrest agreed the transmission, which was shown from an apartment in Dublin, was not the initial transmission, and the pub had not “intercepted” the transmission.
Premium Sports typically charges customers $20 to gain entry to a pub showing games for which they have bought the rights.