PUBS in Worcester may soon be legally allowed to screen live Premier League football on foreign satellite channels after a European justice chief said broadcasting rules are unfair.

In a landmark case, an advocate-general at the European court of justice has advised judges to back the right of a landlord in Portsmouth to use a Greek decoder in her pub to screen matches.

We previously reported in your Worcester News how a number of county pubs had been fined after BskyB enforcement officers caught them showing Premier League matches on foreign channels.

The Berkeley Arms and The Bell, both in St John’s, Worcester, The Vine, in Northwick, Worcester and the Doverdale Arms, Droitwich, are just a few pubs that had bought foreign decoders from Coventry-based company Dreambox.

BskyB has exclusive rights to screen top-flight matches in this country but their commercial packages can cost up to £16,000-a-year. Dreambox offered packages using Albanian and Italian decoders for about £1,500.

The Vine cancelled its subscription but the others all received fines totalling nearly £4,000 after being found guilty of dishonestly receiving a programme with intent to avoid payment.

However, Colin Kenwrick, landlord of the Berkeley Arms, in School Road, successfully appealed the conviction after a judge ruled he had not acted dishonestly.

Mr Kenwrick welcomed the comments of the advocate-general. He said: “Sky shouldn’t be allowed to have such a monopoly.

“It would certainly make the competition fairer and hopefully force Sky to bring their prices down as well. It would really help a small pub like ours if we could get people in to watch the football rather than watching it at home.”

Guy Beech, landlord of the Wheatsheaf Inn, in Henwick Road, said he pays £6,000-a-year for a Sky Sports and ESPN package.

He said: “I think it would be fantastic if a ruling was passed. At the moment pubs are looking to cut costs wherever possible.”

Juliane Kokott, one of eight advocate generals of the European court of justice, said selling on a territory-by-territory basis represented a “serious impairment of freedom to provide services” and breached EU single market rules.

The advocate-general's ‘opinion’ is not binding, but the full panel of EU judges follows such advice in about 80 per cent of cases.

Mike Darcey, chief operating officer at BSkyB, said: “This is the opinion of the advocate general and what actually matters in the end is the ruling from the European court of justice which is expected sometime later in the year.”