The Saturday afternoon TV blackout for football matches should be scrapped for women’s games, the Government has said.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said it would help “seize on” the momentum following the Lionesses’ historic victory at the Euros last year and “transform the future of women’s football”.
Responding to the recommendations of an independent review into women’s football, the Government said sports bodies should create “a bespoke window for women’s matches to be regularly” shown on TV to encourage viewers.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said this could be done by revoking Article 48 of the Uefa statutes, which prohibits live football coverage between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays in England.
The controversial policy, known as the 3pm blackout rule, has been in place since the 1960s. It claims to ensure in-person attendance at Premier League, Football League or FA Cup matches and to prevent weekend television schedules from being saturated by football.
However, there have been growing calls to scrap the measure, with many arguing that it promotes illegal streaming as people try to circumvent hefty subscription fees on sports channels. England, Scotland and Montenegro are also now the only countries to enforce the 3pm blackout among 53 Uefa nations.
Ministers said revoking Article 48 for women’s football alone was “one viable option” to promote the women’s game and “significantly increase its broadcast and commercial revenue”.
“We recognise that there are challenges to this with the men’s game, but it does not feel credible to hold the women’s game back on this basis when it would generate significant revenue for a game that has lagged behind commercially,” the report by the DCMS said.
Ministers added that there was a “legitimate question” about compensating the women’s game for “this missed opportunity for revenue” if efforts to revoke Article 48 face significant pushback and no alternative slot is found.
Currently, women’s football matches are predominantly broadcast on a Sunday evening, which the Government said “limits the number of supporters attending the game in person”.
Ms Frazer announced she would establish a specialist group responsible for implementing the plans and other recommendations in the independent review, with the first meeting set for March 2024.
The Government has also recommended the Football Association (FA) conduct an in-depth analysis of its current maternity policies for female football players and to create a workforce strategy to drive diversity in the women’s game.
Former England forward Ellen White has previously supported lifting the 3pm blackout for women’s matches, arguing that the current broadcast slot discourages viewers.
“Sunday at 6.45 in the evening… [means] schools open the next day, then again on a Saturday at 11am a lot of grassroots football teams play, so you’re destroying the viewership then, and also the amount of bums on seats in the stadium as well,” she told the DCMS Committee earlier this year.
“So I think we need to look at a good day and a good time to really maximise our audiences, to get bums on seats and to grow our fanbase.”
Niall Sloane, ITV’s director of sport, has also said the slot should be “utilised”, telling the DCMS Committee: “Where else can women’s football fit into a weekend?”
However, Jonathan Licht, managing director of Sky Sports, said it was important to avoid putting “all our eggs in one basket”.
“I understand and can see the perspective on 3pm because as it stands, it’s the only one at the moment where no other football is being broadcast. I can see why you would naturally fall to a conclusion that that would be attractive,” he said.
“I do think it may not be so clear-cut though, because it’s the time when more people are attending football than any other time.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/tC8hbz6
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