British Culture Secretary John Whittingdale "pledged not to tamper" with the list of "crown jewel" sporting events, such as the Wimbledon tennis finals, Olympic Games and the football World Cup final, that must be broadcast free-to-air on services such as the BBC, according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. Whittingdale said that "the government would not look to either add or remove sports from the so-called crown jewels list." Any move to remove some of the sports from the list "would almost certainly kill the chance of the BBC, ITV or Channel 4 holding on to them in the face of deep-pocketed pay-TV rivals such as Sky, Discovery and BT." Any move to add more sports to the free-to-air protected list "could anger some sports bodies who make significant sums from lucrative pay-TV deals." Whittingdale: "Sky -- and now as well BT -- have generated huge sums for the sports they screen, while helping to grow and sustain interest and participation. We do not propose to reopen discussion on listed sporting events."
Crown Jewels: full live coverage protected for free-to-air TV -- such as BBC
- The Olympic and Paralympic Games
- The FIFA World Cup finals tournament
- The European Football Championship finals tournament
- The FA Cup final
- The Scottish FA Cup final (in Scotland)
- The Grand National
- The Derby
- The Wimbledon tennis finals
- The Rugby League Challenge Cup final
- The Rugby World Cup final (GUARDIAN, 5/11).
