Reports link broadcaster and ITV with late FIFA deal

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BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore has said that the broadcaster is “absolutely committed” to the Women’s World Cup. 

The competition gets underway 20 July in Australia and New Zealand, but there is yet to be a broadcast agreement for the UK. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has threatend the UK, as well as Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, with a broadcast blackout of the tournament, claiming that bids as of last month were a “slap in the face” to women’s football.

FIFA has separated the bidding process for the women’s event for the first time this year. Previously it was bundled in with other events, including the men’s competition. The BBC held sole rights for the 2019 Women’s World Cup, and shared the 2022 men’s World Cup with ITV.

Speaking to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday, 12 June, Moore said that the corporation looks at “fair value” in all its dealings: “We really look at fair value for everything that we do, and the BBC has a strong track record in paying absolutely the right price for things,” said Moore.

“As I say, we’re market-assessing and audience-assessing and looking at the variants for each bid that we put in, and that’s our promise to the audience and to licence fee payers.

“I think we would all share the intention to get these things nailed down because for productions it’s incredibly important, so I think it’s in everybody’s interests to sort these things out.

“But I can’t comment on commercial negotiations that would obviously affect those decisions. We’re absolutely committed.

“We are doing everything we can to make sure that we obtain the rights for as much of women’s sport as we can within the budget and the funding envelope that we have, and we make those decisions across the year.

“We go into negotiations at the right time when those bids come up and we have to go through a system. But we don’t always dictate the speed of that financial situation.”

There have been reports that the BBC and ITV are close to agreeing a deal with FIFA. Bloomberg claims that the deal will be worth around 5-6% of what the pair paid for the men’s edition last year.