The ‘crown jewel’ offers to keep sports free on streaming services

The government is proposing new laws to prevent streaming and some of the world’s biggest sporting events – including the World Cup – being put behind a paywall for UK viewers.

The current law covering the so-called ‘crown jewels’ was established in 1996, when only 4% of UK households had internet access.

That doesn’t preclude on-demand rights being sold to streaming services like Netflix or Discovery+, which would charge subscribers to watch at their convenience.

The Olympics, FA Cup final, Grand National and Wimbledon final are among other listed events that will now add such digital rights to the scope of the regime as part of a media green paper published this week.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “Because of the night kick-off, many families are currently following the World Cup on demand in the morning.

“With these changes we are safeguarding it for the future, our public service broadcasters must secure streaming rights for the biggest sporting events.

“Not only will it help those broadcasters compete, it will ensure people don’t miss out on the history-making sporting moments that bring us together as a nation, free to watch however and whenever they choose.”

In 2022, a report by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Election Committee, outsider recommended that the previous government “should review extending the protections currently provided under the listed events regime to digital and on-demand content”.

There were also ministers Under some pressure To add the Six Nations Rugby Championship to the ‘Crown Jewels’ event.

However, the government has no plans to expand the list and says it currently strikes the right balance to ensure the country’s biggest sporting moments are free-to-air, while protecting competition organizers’ ability to raise revenue from selling broadcast rights.