Football: Scotland

(asked on 22nd February 2024) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has (a) received representations from and (b) had discussions with her counterpart in the Scottish Government on ensuring that Scottish (i) men's and (ii) women's international football matches are shown on free-to-air TV.


Answered by
Julia Lopez Portrait
Julia Lopez
Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 27th February 2024

The Government believes that certain sporting events of national interest should be shown on free-to-air television rather than behind a paywall, so that they can be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible. That is why we have the listed events regime.

The Government believes that the current list strikes an appropriate balance, and has no current plans to undertake a full review of the events on the list.

Sports policy is devolved, and it would be for the Scottish Government to comprehensively evaluate whether there is currently the right balance between Scottish rights holders' ability to generate sufficient income to reinvest in Scottish sport, and access for Scottish audiences to those sporting events. The UK Government would then take those considerations into account.

We have regular engagement with our Scottish counterparts on a range of issues.

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