LOSS OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE COVERAGE ON FREE TO AIR TELEVISION

That this House is concerned that from next season there will be no football UEFA Champions League or Europa League highlights on any of the major free to air channels in the UK; notes that UEFA have decided to sell the rights exclusively to pay television providers in an increasing number of European countries for the period 2018 to 2021 in contrast to European Rugby which is bringing some matches in the European Rugby Champions Cup back live on Channel 4 next season; further notes that for many matches more people watch the free to air highlights for the Champions League than watch the live coverage on BT Sport which attracts less than a quarter of the viewers that used to watch live on terrestrial television; notes that one of the major sponsors of the Champions League, Heineken, has suggested it would prefer to see some matches in countries such as the UK return to free to air; urges BT Sport who hold all UK rights to offer at a reasonable price the highlights rights to one of the main easily accessible free to air channels; calls on the Government to add UEFA Champions League highlights to those listed events which must be offered to the free to air channels; and asks the European Commission to open an inquiry to investigate whether the bundling of all live and highlights rights by UEFA is an infringement of competition law just as they investigated the English Premier League a decade ago.