Tue, June 23, 2026
Rule change proposal in UK could ensure the streaming and catch-up rights on the UK’s “crown jewel” events are not placed behind a paywall
A new rule change proposal in the UK could prevent the streaming and catch-up rights on the UK’s “crown jewel” events from being placed behind a paywall for UK viewers. The “crown jewel” events include all the FIFA World Cup matches, all the UEFA European Championship matches, the Olympic Games, the FA Cup Final, the Scottish Cup Final, the Grand National, the Wimbledon Finals and the Rugby World Cup Final.
Although these events are free-to-air for UK residents, which was established in 1996, when just 4% of UK households had access to the internet, the new rule change would help prevent on-demand rights being sold to a streaming service such as Netflix, Discovery+ or Amazon Prime, which charge subscribers.
There was recently outrage that the showpiece match between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League Final was placed behind a paywall and was not free to watch, the first time in 34 years the final had not been made available for viewers at home for free.
Culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, expressed: “Due to the late night kick-offs, so many families are currently following the World Cup by catching up on-demand in the mornings…
With these changes we are protecting that for the future, ensuring streaming rights for the biggest sports events must be offered to our public service broadcasters [including BBC iPlayer and ITVX, free-to-air streaming platforms]…
This will not only help those broadcasters compete, it will make sure that people never miss out on the history-making sporting moments that bring us together as a nation, for free and however and whenever they choose to watch.”
A similar proposal was made in 2022 by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport which raised that the government should, “review extending the protections currently offered under the listed events regime to digital and on-demand content.”
Ministers have also pushed for the Six Nations Rugby to be added to the list featuring the “crown jewels,” but right now the focus is on the original events aforementioned, and competition organisers’ rights to raise income from the sale of broadcast rights also needs to be protected.
In other similar news elsewhere, New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, outlined plans to put World Cup matches on hundreds of kiosks across the five boroughs to improve accessibility to sport for the average person. He also negotiated with the NBA to put the New York Knicks v San Antonio Spurs 2026 NBA Final on displays so that those New Yorkers who did not have broadcast TV or streaming were still able to watch Knicks capture their first NBA title in 53 years, which sparked huge celebrations across the state.
According to Reuters, the get-in price for World Cup games in New York/New Jersey and Miami approached $1,000 in the run-up to the tournament. Mamdani stated: “If we allow sports to become a luxury commodity, we also allow it to become divorced from its roots as also an expression for working people, and not just something to participate in, but also something to be a part of.”
He also stated, “the beautiful game belongs to everyone.”
Lee Igel, a clinical professor at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport, expressed that Mamdani: “understands the platform, the power of sport.”
The initial 2022 proposal by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport can be found here.
