ITC gives consent for World Cup coverage

The ITC have given consent to ITV and the BBC for their combined coverage of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Finals.
This move means that 56 of the matches will be shown on ITV1 and BBC1 and eight of the matches will be shown on ITV2 and via BBCi, the interactive service.
The commission gave "careful consideration" to views expressed during a public consultation on the coverage of the tournament, particularly to concerns regarding restricted viewer access to the eight matches which are scheduled to coincide with others shown on ITV1 and BBC1.
Channel 5 had suggested to the ITC that ITV and the BBC should be required to sublicense the rights to these eight matches. Whilst the ITC said that it shared these concerns and has discussed Channel 5's views with ITV and the BBC, the commission said that it "does not have the power to require either broadcaster to sublicense the matches if they cannot be shown on ITV1 and BBC1".
Under the rules on Listed Events contained in the Broadcasting Act 1996 (as amended by the Television Broadcasting Regulations 2000) television services are divided into two categories – those which are provided free to air and are received by at least 95% of the UK population, and all other television services.
The services which currently fall into the first category are BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4. The ITC's consent is needed where a broadcaster providing a service in either category is planning to show live coverage of a 'Group A' event or part of an event and a broadcaster providing a service in the other category has not also acquired the rights.
The application for consent indicated that live coverage of four of the matches would possibly be shown on the same channel as BBC Choice. The BBC has now decided that live coverage will be provided instead via BBCi, available to viewers of digital satellite. The BBC also hopes to carry the interactive stream on digital terrestrial and digital cable subject to resolution of regulatory and technical issues.
The ITC consultation was launched on March 20, with a deadline of April 12 for responses. Four responses were received, with all but one respondent requesting confidentiality. The remaining response was placed on record in the ITC Information Office on April 19.
ITC, www.itc.org
(GMcG)