Fifa and Uefa must up their game in TV battle

Free-to-air television 1, Fifa and Uefa 0.

Advocate-general to the European Court of Justice Niilo Jääskinen says EU countries should be allowed to ensure free-to-air coverage of the World Cup and European Championship football finals if they consider them to be of major public importance.

World football governing body Fifa, and its European counterpart, Uefa, argued that Britain and Belgium had interfered with their property rights by restricting the broadcast of both competitions to free-to-air channels, thereby preventing the kind of lucrative bidding frenzy that would deliver the loudest ker-ching.

Fifa and Uefa appealed to the ECJ after Europe’s second highest court, the General Court, threw out their challenge to a European Commission ruling that backed Britain’s and Belgium’s approach.

Jääskinen yesterday sided with Britain and Belgium.

“If those competitions are considered by member states to be events of major importance for their society, those member states may, in order to ensure broad public access, require that they be broadcast on free-to-air television.”

It’s a non-binding opinion, but the ECJ usually follows the advocate-general’s recommendations. With the ECJ not due to rule on the case until next year, the game isn’t over quite yet, but Fifa and Uefa are playing catch-up as the final whistle nears.