The Political Economy of Television Sports Rights ― Between Culture and Commerce

Sport on television is big business. Broadcasters across the world regularly agree highly lucrative deals for the television broadcast rights to cover major sporting events or competitions. At the same time, however, sport is about more than just commerce. Sport is a social and cultural activity practiced and valued by millions of people throughout the world. The Political Economy of Sports Rights examines both the economic and the social significance of sports broadcasting, as well as how each of these contrasting perspectives have led to the extensive regulation of sports broadcasting by national governments and, in the case of many European countries, the European Union. Using a range of national case studies from Europe and beyond, this book highlights the need for a regulatory approach to sports broadcasting that balances the commercial priorities of sports organisations and private media companies with the wider social and cultural benefits to be gained from free-to-air sports broadcasting.

Tom Evens is Senior Researcher with the Centre for Media and ICT (iMinds-MICT) and lectures economics of new media at Ghent University, Belgium. He specialises in the economics and policies of sports broadcasting and digital television, and has published widely on media economics and management in international peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes.

Petros Iosifidis is Professor in Media and Communication Policy in the Department of Sociology, City University London, UK. He is the author of Public Television in the Digital Era (2007), Global Media and Communication Policy (2011), co-author of European Television Industries (2005) and editor of Reinventing Public Service Communication (2010).

Dr. Paul Smith is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at De Montfort University, UK. His research focuses on contemporary media policy and he has published articles in a number of leading journals, including Media, Culture and Society and Convergence, as well as a research monograph on the introduction of digital television in Britain (2007).