UEFA, FIFA and their Challenges of Free Broadcasting Events
30 July 2008
This article was first published in the July 2008 issue of
SportBusiness International
In separate actions, FIFA and UEFA have lodged
complaints against the European Commission’s decision to approve
the lists of certain ‘crown jewels’ sporting events - the
World Cup and the European Championships - drawn up by the
UK.
The European Union’s Television Without
Frontiers Directive, as recently amended by the Audio Visual Media
Services Directive, provides the legal basis for Member States to
compile lists of designated events that are of major importance to
society, so must be broadcast on free-to-air television. In the UK,
only the BBC, ITV and channel 4 fall under the definition of
free-to-air broadcasters. Of the three, Channel 4
historically has rarely bid for sports rights (bar cricket),
reducing the effective list of bidders for the football matches to
the BBC and ITV.
The lists must be provided to
the Commission that then decides whether the events in
question are of major importance to the Member State country and
most importantly that the compilation of these lists
complies with EC law. If the list complies with EC law, the
Commission will approve it.
There is no obligation on Member States to
introduce listed events legislation and supply a list to the
Commission. Currently only Austria, Belgium, Finland, France,
Germany, Ireland, Italy and the UK have a list system in
place. The only constant event throughout the submitted lists
are the World Cup and European Championships. Crucially the UK
lists all of the World Cup and European Championship finals games
collectively as of major cultural importance to the UK.
UEFA have challenged the Commission’s
decision to approve the UK's listing of the entire UEFA
European Championship final tournament, UEFA state that the
Commission has erred in concluding that matches not involving
England, Northern Ireland, Wales or Scotland in the European
Championships could be considered as events of major
importance for the UK.
FIFA have challenged the listing of World
Cup games by both the UK and Belgium. FIFA contend that, in the
UK’s case, the Commission failed to state reasons for
approving the inclusion of all 64 matches. Their argument includes
the assertions for the approval of both the Belgian and UK lists
that the procedure adopted was not clear or transparent, that not
all matches are of importance to the UK or Belgian public and that
the list system infringes competition law. FIFA points to both
lists preventing it from licensing new entrants who wish to
use premium sports broadcasting to establish themselves in the
European football broadcasting market.
This begs the question as to how many UK
viewers would deem a European Championship finals match between
Romania v France of cultural significance to the UK? However,
if in the next World Cup Romania v France is the determining
fixture to decide whether England goes through to the knock-out
stages of the competition, there would certainly be an argument for
that game being of cultural significance. The context of the game
therefore becomes very important and something that could not be
easily catered for before a tournament began. Similarly, the
entitlement of a UK citizen to watch the complete tournament
unravelling on a free-to-air, non-pay TV broadcast channel, to
many, is viewed as an inherent right. The expectation of not having
to pay for watching live football which UK viewers have
traditionally watched for free does potentially hold some merit
when one considers that the hugely popular Premier League and
Champions League competitions are not protected under the UK list
at all.
The Italian equivalent to the UK list is
substantially more selective in relation to the World Cup and
European Championships however, and includes only the final and all
matches involving the Italian national team. However the Italian
list is more restrictive in relation to the broadcasting of the
Champions League; if an Italian team reaches the semi-finals and/or
final the broadcast must be screened on free-to-air television. The
UK list does not require any Champions League matches to be made
available to free-to-air broadcasters even though ITV does screen
such matches.
The issue is essentially a consideration of
what events should be deemed of 'major importance to society'. It
is difficult to anticipate the outcome of these cases as there are
valid arguments on both sides. UEFA and FIFA appear to be playing
hardball in using the European courts to attack the current Belgian
and UK lists. By only launching actions against the two lists it
must be that the organisations are satisfied that the other
national submitted lists go no further to protect a smaller number
of events, or that the Belgian and UK lists offer the best examples
of lists which go beyond what the organisations feel is
proportionate and necessary, unduly limiting a rights holders
ability to maximise their revenues for highly lucrative
competitions.
The ultimate aim will perhaps manifest in a compromise solution
that may allow UEFA and FIFA to sell the rights to group games that
do not include Belgian or England, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland games to interested pay-tv operators, whilst allowing all
games involving England for example to appear live on their own
country’s free-to-air broadcasters.
For further information, please contact Daniel Geey.