Consultation: Listed Events – FIFA Women's World Cup Finals Tournament 2023

Ofcom has received requests from the BBC and ITV for consent to broadcast exclusive live coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals Tournament 2023 (“the 2023 Women’s World Cup”). The tournament is due to take place in Australia and New Zealand from Thursday 20 July to Sunday 20 August 2023.

In 2022 the FIFA Women’s World Cup Finals Tournament was designated a ‘Group A’ listed event by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for the purposes of the Broadcasting Act 1996.

As a ‘listed event’, Ofcom’s consent is needed to broadcast exclusive live television coverage.

We are consulting for a shorter period than usual.  This is because of delays in the acquisition of the rights from FIFA. In particular, while it was announced on 14 June that FIFA, ITV, the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union (“EBU”) had reached an agreement enabling the BBC and ITV to broadcast the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the BBC and ITV intended to wait until the final agreements were concluded before making their applications to Ofcom.  The agreements are yet to be concluded, due to delays caused by the more complex multi-party nature of the transaction, but the BBC and ITV have now made their applications to ensure Ofcom has time to carry out this consultation.

Ofcom is provisionally minded to grant consent, subject to considering any concerns raised in response to this consultation.

Responding to this consultation

Please submit responses using the consultation response form (ODT, 14.1 KB).