United Kingdom: the government wants to guarantee free access to the World Cup on streaming platforms
By OnzeActu · · 2 min read
The UK government is planning a new law to protect free access to major sporting events, such as the World Cup, via streaming platforms. This measure aims to prevent streaming and catch-up broadcasting rights from being reserved for paid services and to guarantee their availability to everyone.
In London, the British government wants to modernize the protections surrounding the broadcast of the biggest sporting events in order to prevent them from passing behind paid streaming platforms. New legislation is in the works to include not only live broadcasting, but also catch-up rights, in the list of audiovisual “crown jewels”, such as the FIFA World Cup.
Since 1996, these major events – such as the Olympic Games, the FA Cup final, the Grand National or the Wimbledon finals – have benefited from protection guaranteeing their free broadcasting, mainly via terrestrial television. However, with the rise of on-demand offers and online subscriptions, this system has until now not covered streaming platforms such as Netflix or Discovery+, which could monetize catch-up access to these competitions.
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Lisa Nandy, the Minister of Culture, underlined the importance of this initiative: “With the time differences, many families are now following the World Cup in catch-up in the morning. This system will preserve this access for the future, by ensuring that streaming rights for the biggest events are first offered to public broadcasters. This not only supports their competitiveness, but above all guarantees everyone the opportunity to experience these great sporting moments for free, at the time that suits them. »
The government nevertheless indicates that it does not intend to expand the list of protected events, considering that the current balance allows both free access for the public and the preservation of income for the organization of competitions. The Six Nations rugby championship, demanded by some to benefit from the same system, is therefore not affected. However, an official report recently recommended extending protection to digital and on-demand content.
This development comes as the 2026 World Cup (organized in the United States, Mexico and Canada) promises to be a highly anticipated historic event for French viewers, who also benefit from a growing interest in streaming. For the moment, this new law only concerns the United Kingdom but reflects a global issue of universal access to sport.