A High Court in London has ruled that pub landlady Karen Murphy can continue to stream live football games via a Greek TV decoder at her public house.

The high profile case of Ms. Murphy, who was charged with illegally showing live football, began over six years ago after Sky, who owns the UK broadcasting rights to the Premier League, sought prosecution for infringing copyright laws.

The court has now cleared Ms. Murphy, owner of the Red White and Blue pub in Portsmouth, of all charges allowing her to continue broadcasting live football at a significantly lower price than if she were paying for Sky.

A current Sky subscription for public houses is said to cost £700 a month. Ms. Murphy has been paying just £800 a year to show matches, including live kick-offs on a Saturday, from Nova TV.

Last year, Ms. Murphy took the issue to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) after Sky attempted to fine her £8,000. The court in Luxemburg told prosecutors that Premier League matches are not an “intellectual creation” of the clubs so aren’t subject to EU copyright laws.

This latest ruling by a UK judge could spell bad news for Sky as many current subscribers could turn away from the media giant in favour of a much cheaper alternative.

The Premier League, which currently holds exclusive agreements with Sky and ESPN is now likely to re-think its strategy for showing live football, which could include it flooding football matches with content that is copyrighted to make it difficult for public houses to use an alternative.

The court ruled that “the screening in a pub of football-match broadcasts containing protected works requires the authorisation of the author of those works.” This includes any recorded material, such as Match Of The Day, the playing of the Premier League anthem, and any video sequences made by the TV channel.

If the Premier League goes down this route, it might end up being more trouble than it's worth.