Brussels, 10/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - The French list of sports events to be broadcast on free-to-air channels, received by at least 85% of French homes, has just been published on the Official Journal after being approved by the European Commission. This list includes major sporting events, such as the Winter and Summer Olympic Games, the semi-finals and finals of the football World Cup and European Championship, which are also included on the lists of other member states, but there are, too, sports events of particular interest to French viewers, such as the finals of the Roland Garros men's and women's singles tennis tournament, the semi-finals and finals of the Rugby World Cup, the Six Nations rugby tournament, the men's and women's finals of the world and European basketball and handball championships when France is playing, the men's Tour de France and the World Athletics Championship. The French list and the terms governing its use now apply to all European broadcasters who may obtain rights to retransmit these events in France.
So that all viewers may have the widest possible access to major sports events, Article 3(a) of the “Television without Frontiers” directive requires member states to submit to the Commission a list of events to be made available on free-to-air. Hitherto, France, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom have sent national lists to the Commission (http: //ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/reg/tvwf/implementation/events_list/index_en.htm). This provision featured in the Television without Frontiers directive before its revision in 1997. It was retained in the new version which is due to come into effect before the end of the year. The new directive adds, in the name of the right to information, a new right for broadcasters to have access to short extracts of major highlights for broadcasting in news bulletins. (il)