The impact of potential changes to European geo-blocking regulation on sport

O&O has conducted a study into the potential impact that an extension of the European Geo-blocking Regulation to include audiovisual services could have on the sports rights industry in the EU28. It concludes that the current system of exclusive territorial rights licensing already allows for the benefits of sport to be realised. It enables a large proportion of people to afford access to sport, whilst ensuring sports have adequate funding to deliver the high-quality content which audiences enjoy.

If the Geo-blocking Regulation were extended to include audiovisual services, all European sports rights licences would be pan-EU. Broadcasters would respond to the new competitive dynamic; those in territories where consumers value certain sports highly would outbid smaller competitors at the next rights auctions. Consumers in any given market would therefore not have access to significant sports from overseas via their domestic provider, which would focus on sports of disproportionately domestic importance. The result would be a highly fragmented landscape for sports content, whereby consumers would have to get services from multiple territories, including taking multiple subscriptions, to retain access to the breadth of sports coverage they currently enjoy.

As well as suffering from a fragmentation of access to sports, a total of 103 million people in 11 territories which are not home to top-tier competitions, could be exposed to higher prices to access coverage of many top-tier sport from overseas. This consumer harm would be felt disproportionately by those in smaller, typically lower income countries, which currently benefit from prices which are tailored to their market. Furthermore, the industry could lose €2.0 billion annually, or 15 per cent of revenues and the revenue loss for smaller sports could be as high as 26 per cent. This would ultimately damage investment at grassroots level, and the quality of sport available to consumers.

Click here to read the report in full.

O&O were commissioned by the Sports Rights Owners’ Coalition (SROC).