New moves in sports broadcasting battle

Date: 16/05/1996

By Fiona McHugh

THE European Parliament is expected to turn up the heat next week in its battle over the granting of exclusive rights to broadcast sports events.

In an oral question due to be tabled during this month's plenary session in Strasbourg, Luciana Castellina, chairman of the culture committee, will ask the Commission what - if anything - it plans to do to ensure access to broadcasts of major sports events for all EU citizens.

Private pay-tv stations such as BSkyB have been buying up exclusive rights to key sports events, giving rise to fears that televised sport will soon become a luxury which many people will not be able to afford.

In a resolution also due to be voted on by the full Parliament next week, Castellina says that cheap access to televised sports events which are of general interest in one or more member states should be guaranteed by the Commission.

British Socialist MEP Carole Tongue, in a separate resolution on public service television, calls on the Commission to ensure that if exclusive rights are handed out to pay-television stations, then terrestrial public stations, such as the BBC, should be allowed to screen the highlights.

In the UK, the House of Lords is already spearheading a similar campaign to keep the 'crown jewels' of the sporting calendar away from subscription television firms.

Castellina points out that, with sports organisations' costs on the rise, the likelihood of pay-stations winning the right to transmit events of EU-wide importance, such as the Olympics and the World Football Championship, will also increase.

Commercial television stations, which have been trying desperately to head off mounting opposition in the Parliament to their forays into televised sport, insist that increased competition has led to a surge in the number of sports shows screened and an improvement in the quality of broadcasts.

According to Soune Wade of the Association of Commercial Television Stations, the lack of competition in the sector has, in the past, led to the formation of joint-bidding cartels aimed at keeping prices below market levels.

Tongue, however, says that most MEPs would rather see special rules drawn up for the sector. “Public stations, because of the crucial cultural role they play, cannot be treated in the same way as other companies,” she insists.

The Directorate-General for competition, DGIV, is refusing to be drawn on how it will respond to Castellina's question. But most expect it to take the view that the sports industry should, like any other business, be governed by competition rules.