The government should avoid interfering with broadcast rights for major sports events, a leading Tory peer said yesterday.
Lord Tebbit, a former Cabinet minister, said it was “not the business of the government” to decide how sports organisations should sell television rights.
He was responding to a call from Lord Grocott, a former Government chief whip in the Lords, who suggested the list of sporting events that must be shown on terrestrial television should be extended in the light of the success of the Olympics.
Lord Tebbit asked: “Do you not agree that the intellectual property belongs to those who have organised it and are playing that game?”
Lord Grocott said the fact the Olympics could be seen by every television owner contributed hugely to their success.
During question time in the House of Lords, Lord Grocott said the Olympics were only guaranteed to be on free-to-air television until 2020 and called for that date to be extended “at the very least”.
For the government, Viscount Younger of Leckie said ministers were “committed” to ensuring key sporting events were available to “as many television viewers as possible on free-to-air television”.