The Six Nations is not currently on the free-to-air list of live sporting events
By David Deans and Shelley Phelps
BBC Wales
There are no plans to force the rugby unions to offer the Six Nations to free-to-air broadcasters, the UK government has said.
Ministers have been under pressure from Welsh MPs to put the tournament on the so-called “crown jewels” list of sporting events.
UK ministers say the current list “works well”.
But a Tory MP warned there are efforts to market the Six Nations “to the highest bidder”.
Under the so-called “crown jewels” list of sporting events, live coverage of the Rugby World Cup final, the football World Cups, the Olympic Games and Wimbledon finals have to offered to free-to-air TV channels such as the BBC, ITV or Channel 4.
The group A rules require that events on the list must be offered to the main free-to-air broadcasters on “fair and reasonable terms”.
The Six Nations is not in the group A list, but is in group B, which says it can be on a subscription service as long as highlights are offered to free-to-air channels.
In a report last year the cross-party Welsh Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons called for the tournament to be included in the group A list, warning awareness of the sport could fall if it the Six Nations went behind a paywall.
The current BBC/ITV rights deal is set to end in 2025.
In its response to the committee the UK government said the “current list of events works well to deliver the best outcome and that it strikes an appropriate balance and therefore we have no plans to undertake a full review of the list”.
It said that, in the “first instance” the Welsh government should “comprehensively evaluate” whether “there is currently the right balance between Welsh rights-holders ability to generate sufficient income to invest in Welsh sport, and access for Welsh audiences to those sporting events”.
The UK government would take those considerations into account, it said.
‘We know there’s an agenda’
The Welsh Affairs Committee chairman and Preseli Pembrokeshire Conservative MP Stephen Crabb said he was “disappointed” by the UK government’s response and the committee will “keep pushing” on the issue.
Including the tournament in the group A list of sporting events would give it the best chance of remaining freely available to the maximum number of people, he insisted.
“We know there’s an agenda out there, we know there are people pushing for the Six Nations to be marketed off to the highest bidder, there’s an agenda to create a new world league as well, ” said Mr Crabb.
“We just think there’s something at risk of being lost here for the nation of Wales given the importance of the Six nations in our national life, for our culture and our heritage, we still think that there’s a really strong case for the government to protect that tournament.”
In the report, the committee called for the government to give assurances that a review of the licence fee would include a reference to safeguarding Welsh-language broadcasting.
The UK government said the review would “fully” take into account its commitment to Welsh-language broadcasting.
A spokesperson for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “The listed events regime aims to ensure many of the nation’s biggest sporting events are free-to-air wherever possible while protecting competition organisers’ ability to raise income from the sale of broadcast rights to invest in their sports.
“We believe the current list strikes an appropriate balance, with protections in place for highlights of the Six Nations tournament and live coverage of the Rugby World Cup final, and therefore have no plans to amend the regime.”
The Welsh government said: “We note the UK government’s response to the Welsh Affairs Committee’s report and will now consider its recommendations.”
