Airwaves blue as England Under-21 game is sold to Chelsea TV

[the wes 7,212]

Fans keen to follow the progress of Theo Walcott, one of England’sbrightest World Cup prospects, will have to pay for the privilege afterChelsea TV secured the rights to Friday’s European Under-21Championship qualifier against the Former Yugoslav Republic ofMacedonia.

The club channel, available to subscribers for £5.87 a month, willscreen the game from the Ricoh Arena in Coventry after rivalbroadcasters expressed a lack of interest. While there is no minimumcontract for Chelsea TV, it is only available to those already signedup to Sky or Tiscali, although there are limited schedules availableonline.

The news will compound anger among supporters forced to pay up to£11.99 to sit in front of a computer on Saturday evening to watch thesenior England team face Ukraine.

The World Cup qualifier will be shown exclusively on a paid-forinternet channel in a broadcasting experiment that has ramificationsbeyond a single game. Politicians, broadcasters and national governingbodies regard it as a test case that may shape the media landscapeunder an independent review into the way sport is consumed in Britain.

An eight-strong panel led by David Davies, the former executivedirector of the FA, meets this week to discuss issues including howEngland’s World Cup qualifying games are broadcast.

The adverse reaction to the England blackout this weekend willstrengthen the argument, made by fans’ groups and the BBC, that theyshould be added to a list of protected events.

Steven Powell, the director of policy at the Football Supporters’Federation, said: “The Government should ensure that all national teamgames are available for those who can’t afford subscriptions orpay-per-view.”

The list, most recently revised in 1998, stipulates that only WorldCup finals matches are screened free to air.Adding qualifiers to thelist, as Ireland has done, would guarantee free-to-air coverage becauserights to England’s away games are held by foreign associations keen tosell to the highest bidder. Home qualifiers are shown on terrestrialtelevision after the FA sold its rights to ITV.

The idea of creating a framework in which fans could freely followEngland’s journey from qualification to the World Cup finals is gainingtraction among policymakers.

While the Ukraine fixture, originally bought for £5 million bySetanta, the defunct pay-TV operator, is a dead rubber, the principleof free access to England games still matters. “If this was the gamethat decided whether England qualified, there would have been a riot,”a source close to the matter said.

The review panel will also consider whether the World Cup finalsshould continue to be protected in full. Fifa and Uefa have argued fora delisting of group matches, as is the case in most European countries.

The review of listed events — which includes the Olympics, the GrandNational and the Wimbledon finals — is expected to conclude this month.

The panel will submit its recommendations to Ben Bradshaw, theSecretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who will decidewhether or not to amend the legislation.

Many broadcasters are happy with the mix of free and paid-forprogramming, but most sports governing bodies want more freedom to sellto the pay-TV market. After nine months of exhaustive analysis, thepanel is expected to recommend some changes. The Australian model,which gives free-to-air broadcasters first option on key sports eventsbut does not exclude pay-TV operators from meeting consumer demand, isbeing studied.

Simon Chadwick, professor of sport business at Coventry University,said: “Saturday’s game may well be the start of a new era inbroadcasting that many of us may never be happy to accept.”

www.timesonline.co.uk

[ZanSnake 1,211]

haha

Take that SkySports!

[Kez 2,727]

Strange lol. I'll be going to this game tomorrow

[Laylabelle 9,305]

Erm okay then slightly random lol

[Kez 2,727]

6-3 to england in the end

[BlueLion. 21,491]

What an entertaining game that was!