The European Broadcasting Union consortium of public-service broadcasters has adopted a declaration calling for “sporting events of major importance for society” to be available on a free-to-air basis.
The declaration on the importance of sports programmes for public-service media audiences was adopted at the EBU’s 75th general assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
The EBU said that the aim of the declaration was to “to draw attention to the worrying trend whereby major sports' events are increasingly accessible behind paywalls only, cutting off a major part of the potential audience.”
The union added: “The EBU believes that sporting events of major importance for society should be available to all on a free-to-air basis to underpin social cohesion.”
The EBU highlighted the upcoming review at European Union level of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive as an opportunity to strengthen existing provisions allowing member states to draw up lists of protected events for free-to-air television.
“With more and more sports’ programmes and live coverage falling behind pay-walls operated by vertically-integrated and transnational media giants, the general public risks losing out in all European countries,” the declaration stated. “This negative trend needs to be halted with regulatory support.”