UK public-service broadcaster the BBC is committed to remaining the home of “crown jewel sporting events,” according to director of sport Barbara Slater.
The Guardian reported that BBC Sport’s rights budget has been slashed by 20 per cent over the past 12 months, leading to the broadcaster trimming its coverage of sports such as horseracing, golf and the Formula One motor-racing championship, sparking criticism from some of the sports’ stakeholders.
Slater said that the BBC’s reputation as the home of “crown jewel sporting events” – the common description for events that are reserved for free-to-air television by the UK government due to their national importance – would be restored by the broadcaster’s coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Uefa Euro 2012 football tournament and Wimbledon tennis championships this summer.
“Sometimes rights go and sometimes we acquire rights,” she said. “There is no question this is complex. We are in a new reality in a very dynamic market. There are also pressures on the whole of the BBC with a finite income that in real terms is going to reduce over time.”
Slater suggested that the BBC’s increasing tendency to share rights for events with rival broadcasters – such as Formula One and golf’s Masters tournament with UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB – could be a way of ensuring top-level sport retains a platform on the BBC.
“There are factors other than money,” Slater said. “We ought to be really careful about writing off terrestrial broadcasters too quickly. There are sharing arrangements that we’ve seen rights-holders exploit so that they are to an extent getting the best of both worlds.”