Culture Secretary, has today pushed for the
biggest events in women’s sport to become ‘listed events’ on
free-to-air TV, so that mass audiences can watch them and be
inspired by the achievements of our women sport
stars.
Speaking at the RTS conference, in her first major speech
as Culture Secretary, she confirmed she has written to TV rights
holders to advocate adding major women’s sporting events to the
‘crown jewels’ list bringing parity with the men’s events on the
list.
Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
told the RTS
Conference:
“A record-breaking 28.1 million people tuned into the
Women’s World Cup. I want to build on this momentum and make sure
future generations of female sporting talent can be inspired by
who they see on their screens.
“So today I can announce that I have written to the
relevant rights holders to seek their views about adding women’s
sporting events to the listed events regime.
“So where a men’s event is listed, the women’s equivalent
would be too. This would be an important step in giving female
sporting talent the coverage they deserve and putting men’s and
women’s sport on an equal footing at last.”
also encouraged public service
and commercial broadcasters to do more to secure their future by
working together and becoming as adaptable to change as
international rivals such as Netflix and Amazon.
She called on Ofcom to “think big” in its upcoming review
of public service broadcasting, saying that ambitious regulatory
reform could be needed to reflect a changing sector.
She said:
“New ways of producing and consuming content are emerging
faster than ever before and people are watching what they want,
when they want. No one can deny the benefits of an explosion of
choice and a competitive market.
“But British broadcasters are central pillars of our public
life and their benefits are too great for them to be cast
off as a victim of this revolution. We need to make sure that
regulations - many of which were developed in the analogue age -
are fit for the digita
