In a judgment handed down today in Joined Cases C-403/08 and C 429/08, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘ECJ’) has held that licences for the broadcasting of football matches which grant broadcasters territorial exclusivity on a Member State-by-Member State basis and which prohibit television viewers from watching the broadcasts with a foreign decoder card are contrary both to the free movement of services and to EU competition law.

This groundbreaking finding may have far-reaching implications on the way in which media rights are bought and sold throughout the EU.

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