Member

Access to digital rights such as the ability to deploy on-demand highlights and clips of the key moments in listed events—perhaps goals or tries, as in the preferred sport of the noble Lord, Lord Addington—are crucial components of what public service broadcasters offer to audiences. Although such digital rights are often bundled with live rights at present, there is no certainty that this will continue as online platforms and social media companies seek to acquire them. Without regulatory protection, commercial providers could buy these rights for listed events on an exclusive basis and charge for them. That might not dismay my noble friend Lord Hannan in the way that it does other Members of the Committee, but it would clearly have an effect on the number of people able to share in these unifying national moments. Such a scenario would, I think the Committee would agree, undermine the entire purpose of the listed events regime.