House Of Lords Pass Bill On Sports Events Telecasting (08 Feb 1996)

Lords pass Bill: sports events telecasting

Athar Ali

LONDON, Feb 7: In order to make the major sporting events available on terrestrial television for the benefit of the ordinary viewing public, the House of Lords with a huge majority approved an amendment to the Broadcasting Bill now before parliament. The Government will now find it difficult to go against the wishes of the House of Lords as the amendment proposed by a former Sports Minister, Lord Howell, was passed with a majority of over a hundred votes.

The amendment which got support from peers belonging to both the Conservative and the Labour Parties would mean that the monopoly that BSkyB was hoping to acquire for sports coverage of major events will not be available to them. The amendment will make it essential that at least eight major sporting events, including the Olympics, the cricket Test matches played in England, Wimbledon tennis tournament, the Grand National and the Derby horse races, and the FA Cup final and the Scottish Cup final for football fans are shown on television for viewers who do not subscribe to the satellite television.

The BSkyB has been able to enter into contracts with sporting organisation in exchange for huge fees to get exclusive rights for coverage of important events. For instance, BSkyB will have exclusive rights for televising World Cup cricket in the UK. They are advertising heavily to get more subscribers, offering them the latest attraction. It is with great difficulty that they have allowed the BBC to televise highlights of World Cup cricket matches late at night during the tournament.

Terrestrial television channels do not have the kind of money BSkyB can offer to buy sole rights. The BSkyB is run by Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born media tycoon who also owns The Times, The Sun, the New of the World and a number of other publications in Britain and outside.

Murdochs encroachment in the sphere of sports is being resented by the television community and the public in general. The House of Lords vote will now force the Government to keep this in mind. By blocking BSkyB from acquiring the sole rights for televising some of the major sporting events the House of Lords has seen to it that the public need is fulfilled. This is a tremendous victory for the British sporting public, said Labours Lord Donoughue after the vote. It helps to secure access for the 85 per cent of sports lovers whom Sky shut out.

BSkyB has five million subscribers in the UK and Ireland, two million of whom subscribe to their cable service. There are four terrestrial channels in Britain, two of them commercial. The public has to buy a television licence to be able to watch the nonsatellite channels. The money goes mostly to pay for the running of the BBC channels. The other two channels run on advertising revenue. To have satellite or cable television in their homes, subscribers have to pay an annual or monthly fee in addition to cost of the dish they have to install.