Brussels, 22/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - On the initiative of British Labour MEP Barbara O'Toole, the European Parliament's Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport organised a public hearing in Brussels on 17 April on "Sport and Broadcasting Rights", chaired by Michel Rocard. Its conclusions will be drawn up in a report, in view of a contribution to the new "Broadcasting Directive". Sports clubs are indeed increasingly dependent on revenue from broadcasting rights, notes the parliamentary committee in an information note, adding that, from a Community standpoint, two issues linked to sport and broadcasting rights raise problems: - the centralised marketing of televised broadcasting rights (the sale of television broadcasting rights, in a given period, by the organiser and not the clubs individually participating in the event); - the broadcasting of official events (spiralling increase in television broadcasting rights means that broadcasting risks becoming increasingly in the field of subscription or pay-per-session television, which would place their accessibility to the general public into question).
During the debate, television representatives, Wilfried Verlinde (EBU-European Broadcasting Union) and Simon Johnson (ITV London), as well as the UEFA representative (Union of European Football Associations) Markus Studer, defended the system of collective sales of television broadcasting rights, stressing that that type of sale allowed for a broader supply of sporting events. Mr. Studer, who said that "part of the revenue of major events is distributed to small football clubs", recommends the system of collective sales as "it is easier to manage any tax proposed by the European Commission". He then recalled that, last year, the Commission had, on the basis of Article 81 of the Treaty (competition), sent a letter of complaint to UEFA due to the exclusive sale of its television broadcasting rights, and that, previously, it had accused the EBU of setting up a cartel before granting it an exemption in the 90s. Mr. Jonhson, however, demanded that a difference be made between the price policy of pay-television and that of public television stations.
The Director General of Radio France, Jean-Marie Cavada, said he was outraged that journalists working for the radio hadn't been able to get access and receive authorisation to cover the Olympics, for example, but had to pay fees to be able to work. He refused to accept this situation, saying it was an obstacle to freedom of the press and the public's right for information. The handful of MEPs present totally supported his views, particularly Geneviève Fraisse (GUE/NGL, France) who stressed the paradoxical situation this created since stadiums are public arenas financed by taxpayers. Doris Pack (EPP, Germany) also said it was immoral for radio journalists not to be allowed to cover great sporting events without paying entry fees, saying that European codes of conduct were required and that it was clear that with current regulations, French radio journalists wouldn't be able to cover the Seoul 2002 Olympics and it was important for a French precedent not to become a rule at European level. Mr Andreu (European Commission, Culture DG) called for the collective sale of broadcasting rights as long as better coverage of sports events was guaranteed, and for inter-club solidarity, while Mr Mensching (European Commission, Competition DG) warned of the risk of collective sales creating dominant positions.
To sum up, President Michel Rocard, whose huge commitment and enormous amount of work on Sports and Culture issues had been praised by the European Commission, pointed out that serious problems had been raised during the hearing and that conflicts of interests hadn't prevented people from becoming aware of them. He said a simple solution was required and more detailed legislation, but regretted that they were only twelve at the hearing.
Viviane Reding's meeting with big European football clubs focusses on finance
A few days earlier, Commissioner Viviane Reding met a G14 delegation to discuss TV football rights, financial problems of European football clubs against a backdrop of falling repeat broadcasting fees paid by TV companies and co-operation between G14 and the Commission in the future (see EUROPE of 15/16 April, p.15). After the meeting she said that costs were spiralling and could no longer be covered by clubs' financial income because of the broadcasting advertising crisis. Television can no longer pay the exorbitant sums that players had become accustomed to expect and everybody was aware that a certain balance was needed. She hoped that the principle of inter-club solidarity would be maintained (whereby the broadcasting rights paid to the largest clubs were also shared with the smallest).