United Kingdom: government wishes to update the list events reserved for free-to-air broadcasting

"We want to future-proof these regulations so that in an ever-changing digital landscape the public will still have access to the crown jewels of sport on free-to-air channels," said Karen Bradley, Minister of Culture, Media, and Sport in the British government, on 18/02/2017.

The current access threshold for an event to reach mandatory broadcast on free-to-air is 95% of the population, while more and more viewers consume television via mobile platforms. A group of free TV channels in the United Kingdom have asked the government to reduce the threshold of the available population that a channel must reach to have access to events of major importance (the "Crown Jewel events" in the UK), according to the daily the Telegraph, on 14/02/2017.

The list is actually two sub-lists, one for events that must be available live and free-to-air (A), and the other (B) which imposes free-to-air access for highlights and summaries (see below).

"Deliver a regime fit for the digital era" (B. Slater, BBC Sport, on 14/02/2017)

• "The legislation on which broadcasters qualify (for 'Crown Jewel…