Sport’s ‘crown jewels’ under threat
Friday 6th March 2009, 11:10AM GMT.
BSkyB plans a lobbying campaign calling for all sporting events to be made available to pay-to-view broadcasters.
At present events like the FA Cup final are protected from pay-to-view arrangements under the ‘crown jewels’ reservation maintained by the government.
But the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is currently holding a review of existing arrangements which could see the list of reserved events expanded – or reduced.
“There is no such thing as free sports coverage. We all pay our licence fee,” BskyB chief executive Jeremy Darroch told the Guardian newspaper.
“The sports rights holders are best placed to decide how they want to promote, cover and monetise those rights.
“There’s a listed set of rights today but, over time, if the pay-TV market continues to grow and we continue to convert more sports fans, the arguments for less listing are stronger.”
Culture secretary Andy Burnham has made clear he wants more events – potentially the Ryder Cup and Test match cricket – to be added to the reserved list.
Sky remains the dominant broadcaster in the Premier League, taking five out of the six packages available for all matches until 2013.
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