He said that “It’s not for me to dictate to a rights holder how they should sell their rights. What we want is the chance to pitch and show what we can do to showcase their sport. There is no such thing as free sports coverage. We all pay our licence fee.”
Roger Mosey, head of sport at public-service broadcaster the BBC, defended the present free-to-air “crown jewels” list, which includes the Olympics, World Cups and European Championships. He said that “Pay-TV can hardly claim it’s starved of good content by the current framework” and that if the list was reduced the UK would “lose an important part of our national life”.
A review of listed-events legislation is now being conducted by former English FA executive director David Davies. The process will include consultation with broadcasters, rights holders and the public, and is expected to report to the government by the second half of the year.