7 Oct 2011

UEFA sees no impact from court's television ruling

7:00 am on 7 October 2011

European football's governing body UEFA says that a court ruling changing the way fans can watch sport will have no significant impact on it, although it's not happy with the decision.

On Tuesday, Europe's highest court opened the way for sports fans to watch live matches through foreign television services.

The ruling potentially throws into question the value of rights bought by Britain's BSkyB, which owns the majority of live rights for Premier League matches, and other European broadcasters.

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino says they don't think the ruling will have a significant impact on the way they sell broadcasting rights.

The legal ruling was sparked by English pub landlady Karen Murphy who was fined for screening live English Premier League matches via a Greek pay-television decoder.

The European Union court ruled that the sale of rights on a country-by-country basis breached EU law.