Fifa/Uefa appeal revives threat

'FREE TO AIR' EVENTS:THE THREAT to future "free-to-air" television coverage of the World Cup and European Championships was revived yesterday when it emerged Fifa and Uefa have decided to appeal a European General Court ruling which endorsed the right of governments of EU member states "listing" all games in the two tournaments.

The case specifically relates to the rights for Britain and Belgium, although it is widely expected if the two organisations are successful the principle would be extended to other territories across Europe and possibly beyond, with games being sold to “pay per view” or subscription channels to maximise revenues.

Neither organisation is trying to challenge the right of governments to ensure their own national team’s games are televised by free-to-air broadcasters but have questioned why the principle has been extended to games involving two foreign countries.

In effect, they contend there is no reason the Irish public should be entitled to watch a game between say Brazil and Cameroon without paying for the privilege. They have, however, met considerable resistance to the idea despite claims the additional money raised could go back into the sport.

In the original case, decided in February, their arguments were rejected and with the scope for overturning that decision limited mainly to points of law, their chances of success in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) are generally felt to be not good.

There is, nevertheless, some concern a victory would push the cost of rights to tournaments like the 2018 World Cup in Russia beyond what broadcasters like RTÉ, who have traditionally devoted considerable amounts of air time to the event, would be able to pay.

“It’s something not just RTÉ but every broadcaster will be watching,” said Ryle Nugent, the station’s group head of sport, yesterday. “It’s something that’s going to be of significant long-term interest to everyone across Europe. As things stand all we can say with any certainty is the 2014 World Cup will be on RTÉ and we are hoping future tournaments will be too, although we just have to wait and see what happens.”

No final decision in the case is expected for at least a year and a half, with appeals taking that long to work their way through the ECJ process. If Fifa and Uefa are successful, the decision would have a major effect on their revenues from the tournaments, more than half of which comes from television rights.

Uefa recently announced a deal involving all member associations under which they will centrally market all of the qualifying games for the 2016 European Championships and 2018 World Cup. The FAI expect to be paid upwards of €40 million over the four-year period as their share of the deal while some of the continent’s biggest associations are in line for significantly more than €100 million.

FAI chief executive John Delaney said the free-to-air status of the Irish team’s competitive games would not be threatened but it seems possible here too boosting revenues will involve successfully selling games to pay channels in neighbouring territories.