British Sport Watchers Switch to Al Jazeera

An interesting article in the NY Times about how some British pubs are showing Premiership and Championship football games through their subscription to Al Jazeera’s sport satellite channel rather than the more expensive Sky subscription:

Al Jazeera Sports Plus, a fast-growing satellite sports channel, has become popular with viewers who want Formula One races and British soccer matches. The commentary is strictly Arabic, but the cut-rate service, along with other foreign satellite channels, is gaining a broad following in British pubs, where customers are getting accustomed to toasting their favorite soccer teams while watching the occasional ad for a Greek supermarket or a Czech car dealer…

The British soccer league sells images of its games to 200 broadcasters in other countries, including Al Jazeera, ART and Nova, the Greek satellite provider, which shows games on its SuperSport channel.

BSkyB clearly holds rights to the live Premiership games in England, although it is leaving the protection of its rights to the league…

To watch foreign programming, all a viewer needs is a satellite dish, a set-top box and a smart card that allows the box to decode the right signals. Greek satellite providers issue smart cards only to Greek addresses, and Mr. Smirani insists that Al Jazeera Sports sells its cards only in its territory.

But once issued, the cards can end up anywhere.

Al Jazeera on Television Is Causing Trouble for British Pubs, but It’s Not Political - New York Times: