Expat pensioners at risk of breaking satellite TV rules

Date: 22/05/03

By Peter Chapman

THOUSANDS of EU pensioners retiring to sunny climes in southern member states are breaking the law when they install satellite dishes to watch their favourite TV channels, the European Parliament's culture committee heard this week.

Conservative MEP Roy Perry, responsible for the assembly's upcoming report on the implementation of the EU's broadcasting directive, said legal pitfalls over satellite TV subscriptions need to be tackled if the law is to live up to its'television without frontiers' aim.

He said pensioners easily find firms to install satellite dishes and receivers at their holiday homes.

But the moment they switch on their sets they are technically breaking the law.

That is because satellite companies such as France's Canal+ or the UK's BSkyB deal with copyright holders, such as football leagues or film distributors, on the basis of broadcasting in national markets only.

Extending coverage beyond these borders - to expatriate viewers in the south of France or Costa del Sol - is thus a breach of these agreements.

Perry said: "If we have a concept of television without frontiers then we have a problem when, if you pardon the pun, it comes to the 'grey market' for pensioners [with subscriptions to satellite TV].

"If you are a German or a British person living in Spain or the south of France it is perfectly natural that you will want to watch your normal TV channels.

"I am saying that the television without frontiers directive does not take cognisance of it and we need to find a legal remedy," added the British Conservative MEP, who has a second home at La Rochelle in France's Charente-Maritime.

Perry said one solution might be to allow a slight top-up fee for foreign-based TV subscribers in order to pay extra to copyright holders.

The move would also be a boon for the thousands of expatriates living and working in other member states.

European Commission officials told the committee that the issues Perry raised would be examined during a review of another EU law covering TV issues, the cable and satellite directive, due to be finalised later this year.