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Enable free-to-air coverage of future Olympic events in the UK

Submitted on Tuesday 27th July 2021

Rejected on Friday 30th July 2021

Current status: Rejected

Rejection code: irrelevant (see below for details)

Petition Action

Enable free-to-air coverage of future Olympic events in the UK

Petition Details

The BBC coverage of Tokyo 2020(1) is awful and they claim they are restricted because the IOC sold the EU rights to Discovery+. UK taxpayers gladly support hundreds of athletes on their Olympic Pathways, but that should buy us the right to watch the events.

Additional Information

Inform that IOC that it is unacceptable to sell the TV rights for close to £1bn to a commercial company that then restricts access behind a paywall. If taxpayers fund the athletes then taxpayers have the right to watch the events. The Government needs to insist that there be unfettered free-to-air access in the UK.


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This petition was rejected

The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:

Petitions must call for a specific action that the UK Government or House of Commons is responsible for.

The Olympic Games are already listed as an event of national importance, which means that when they are held in the UK they must be made available on “fair and reasonable terms” to the free-to-air channels, but decisions about broadcasting of sporting events held outside of the UK are a matter for the organisers and individual broadcasters, not the Government or House of Commons.

As a result it is not possible for the Government or House of Commons to take the action you have requested.

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