Polish prosecutor rules in favour of Polsat in World Cup case

The Prokuratura Generalna, Poland’s General Public Prosecutor’s Office, has ruled that digital-satellite platform Cyfrowy Polsat did not break the law when it broadcast two Poland national team football matches on a pay-per-view basis last year, according to the Broadband TV News website.

Poland’s 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifiers away at Montenegro on September 7 and at home to Moldova on September 11 were shown live on Cyfrowy Polsat, but were not available on free-to-air television in the country after public-service broadcaster TVP was unable to agree a rights deal with the Sportfive agency.

Poland’s media regulator, the KRRiT, had investigated the circumstances that led to national team matches being unavailable on free-to-air television for the first time in 11 years, and said that Cyfrowy Polsat may have breached the country’s Broadcasting Act.

Cyfrowy Polsat responded by saying that the regulator had never previously objected to its pay-television broadcasts.

Pay-television operator Polsat and TVP have since agreed rights deals with Sportfive for Poland games.