MacKenzie Applauds Call For Sports Rights Regulation
Outspoken Wireless Group cheif executive, Kelvin MacKenzie, has welcomed the Government’s report on the BBC’s radio operations, in particular applauding the recommendation for a regulatory body overseeing the acquisition of sports rights.
The radio boss, who is currently attempting to take the Football Association to task for selling national broadcast rights to games exclusively to the BBC, has applauded the report, which claims that the Corporation often overspends when bidding for sports broadcasting rights (see talkSPORT Tackles BBC And FA Over Football Rights).
MacKenzie said: “We very much welcome Tim Gardam’s thoughtful report. Under Tim’s suggestion, a regulator would be appointed to stop the BBC using taxpayers’ money to deliberately overpay for sports rights, so denying fledgling companies like talkSPORT from being able to compete.”
The radio chief cited instances in which he believes the BBC has overpaid for licences in order to prevent rivals from bidding, claiming that the Corporation paid the Premier League £39 million for rights which were valued at £2.5 million.
MacKenzie is currently attempting to take BBC Radio Five Live to court over the deal, claiming it indulged in anti-competitive bidding and is monopolising Premiership football commentary rights by grossly outgunning its competitors (see Wireless Group Targets BBC With Legal Action).
With victory clearly in his sights, MacKenzie stated today: “Tim’s report marks the beginning of the end of the BBC’s overarching dominance in sports rights and we urge Tessa Jowell to accept this recommendation without delay. The BBC should also welcome not having to waste taxpayers’ money by paying over the odds. I can already see the dole queue beginning to lengthen for out-of-work BBC executives who have made a career out of overpaying.”
The Governmental report, published this morning, also recommended that the BBC’s prized archive of radio material should be made available to commercial buyers, a move which could spark a flurry of development in the digital radio sector, with third party broadcasters given easy access to quality broadcast content (see Commercial Rivals To Gain Access To BBC Radio Archive).
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