Footnotes:
For further information on this topic please contact Olivier Vrins at ALTIUS by telephone
Endnotes
(1) EU Directive 89/552/EC on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law,
regulation or administrative action in member states concerning the pursuit of
television broadcasting activities, as amended by EU Directive 97/36/EC and EU
Directive 2007/65/EC.
(2) The document states that according to EU law, in principle the organiser of a
sporting event owns the radio and television rights and may thus grant exclusive rights
to a broadcaster. It adds that exclusive broadcasting rights are an integral part of the
normal functioning of the highly competitive broadcasting market and are considered to
be the central driving force of the system that generates revenues for sporting
organisations and television channels. On the other hand, it regrets that such exclusive
rights have pushed up the cost of broadcasting rights for sporting events to the point
that only the richest broadcasting organisations can bid for them, pointing out that this
rise in costs has increased the likelihood that the exclusive rights to major sporting
events (eg, the Olympic Games) will be granted only to commercial broadcasters who
run pay-per-view channels or channels which are not available in all parts of the country
for which the rights have been purchased.
(3) The court pointed out that the front cover of the document stated: "The points of view
expressed are exclusively the personal points of view of their author and do not
necessarily reflect the position of the European Parliament."
(4) European Court of Justice, C-403/08, Football Association Premier League (October
4 2011), www.curia.eu. In a similar context, the French Court of Cassation recently ruled
that participants in television reality shows enjoy no neighbouring right to copyright
(Ammour v TF1, April 24 2013 – for further details please see
"Temptation Island – do reality show participants hold neighbouring rights?").
(5) The situation is different in Italy, for example, where the legislature has recognised
the organisers of sports events as co-owners of the audiovisual rights related to such
events (D Lgs January 9 2008 no 9).
(6) See Recitals 7 and 8 of the directive.
The materials contained on this website are for general information purposes only and
are subject to the disclaimer.