The UK government is poised to significantly impact Big Tech's expansion into sports broadcasting rights with a new consultation on broadcasting regulations. Minister for creative industries, media and arts, Ian Murray, announced the launch of a green paper, an exploratory consultation, on Tuesday.
The proposal aims to prevent streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video from acquiring exclusive rights to broadcast so-called "crown jewel" sports events. Murray emphasized that "changes in technology have allowed providers to offer more services to their audiences, opening up spaces on existing, regulated services that are out of scope of current legislation."
The government's concern is that live sport content on these platforms is not regulated under the same framework as on-demand programming. The green paper seeks to address this by ensuring that major sporting events, which bring the nation together, remain accessible to the public for free. The intention is to legislate to extend the current regulatory regime to include on-demand rights for live sport when parliamentary time permits.
This move follows recent legislative changes in sports governance, such as the introduction of the Independent Football Regulator.
