Now Ѕky Germany stop the English commentary

[Burnham Beech]

Ѕky Germany has now joined Ѕky Italy in stopping English commentary on the second audio option for English Premier League games.

 

[Lazarus]

Scarcely raises an eyebrow.

Quite frankly, you'd have thought the European Union had been in existence long enough for a proper free market to have developed that caters for all the Copyright and other issues, and allowed Consumer freedom instead of providing what is tantamount to Hobson's Choice.

The effort gone to by Consumers to work around the system, and the effort expended by the Platform Providers, Rights Holders etc. must be immense. Surely it would be simpler and cheaper to take a new, radical and enlightened approach and renegotiate Rights etc on an EU wide Actuarial basis?

Lots of winners .............. difficult to see any losers. A bigger legit Market with greater Revenues for the Business side and greater choice for the punter.

 

[bigtee]

I agree with above ---- it is even more pressing in light of the freedom of movement of persons which means you have a lot of Poles and so on in the UK and a lot of UK folk in Spain etc etc. What is more, the concern expressed by some that a monopoly will again soon emerge e.g. Slly edging out everyone else is overblown, as this can be addressed sufficiently by anti-competition rules ---- if the philosophical/economic position of freedom of choice is genuinely pursued.

 

[Turok]

the 2.audio language on the sky movie channels,when its in english,it has mostly no dolby souround!

 

[fergyc]

As long as they don't take it off the movie channels I enjoy that Anyway I quite like the crowd noise better than Sky Italia having Italian on both tracks

 

[bigtee]

On the "monopoly/competition" angle here is an interesting related piece.

_http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/opinion/stephen-glover/stephen-glover-should-murdoch-be-granted-all-of-bskyb-2090451.html

 

[Lazarus]

Mad Vince will see him off.

 

[I.LuV.ManUTd!]

Wow, clearly Sky are going for a proper crack down!

 

[rolfw]

I'm not entirely convinced that the small providers would want a Europe-wide free market, as copyright royalties may have to be geared strictly to subscriber numbers, meaning some of them may end up paying a lot more than they do under existing arrangements, in which I'm convinced that prices are swayed by regional affordability. Also it would allow the big boys to sell into the smaller markets and with far superior/larger programme packages, they would have a distinct advantage. It ain't as straightforward as some would lead us to believe.

 

[Lazarus]

True enough, but that just brings Competition into line with the way it is in other spheres, such as Supermarkets.

The big boys and the little boys.

But at least there are "anti-competitive" rules in the case of Supermarkets to prevent massively skewed market share, whereas in the UK (for example) we have precisely how many fully legit Satellite Pay TV Providers?

Swings and roundabouts.

At present, the EU is a free market only when it suits. Protectionism is supposed to be a thing of the past.

 

[trigger]

This really isn't all about free markets or copyright issues. You have to remember that the FA and The Premier league do not want people sat at home or in the pub watching football at 3pm on a Saturday. They want you out there going to games at all levels.

 

[Lazarus]

The latter Posts refer to the entire EU Pay TV Market, not just Football ...................... but you are quite right to remind us that the original post was indeed about Football and we have drifted off topic onto a path much trodden elsewhere.

Time to get back On Topic! :-topic