Broadcasting of major sports events in the EU

Накратко 28-05-2018

The topic of audiovisual sports rights has gained increasing relevance, including in the light of the upcoming football World Cup in Russia this summer. As most people will not be able to attend the sports games they wish to see, they will use the media to hear the news or to get full direct coverage through live broadcasts. However, media coverage of sports events is regulated by complex copyright rules and the exclusive right to broadcast top sports events live comes at a cost. In 2014, the global sports rights market was worth nearly €19 billion. In the EU, broadcasters spent around €5.8 billion on the acquisition of rights in 2009, which represented nearly 17 % of their total €34.5 billion programming spend. But how exclusive can audiovisual rights be?