ITV has applied to Ofcom for consent to broadcast exclusive live coverage of partof the UEFA European Football Championship on ITV1 and ITV2 in 2004.
This is a Group A Listed Event which means that the rights to broadcast livecoverage must have been offered to the two categories of broadcasters specifiedin the Broadcasting Act 1996: those providing a service which is free to airand has national coverage (BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4) and those providingother services. The rules which apply are set out in the Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events (PDF, 71.2 KB). In the case of the UEFA European Football Championship, Ofcom understandsthat the rights have been offered to other broadcasters and that the generalavailability of the rights has been widely publicised.
The tournament takes place in June and July in Portugal. All of ITV’smatches will be shown live on ITV1 or ITV2 with highlights on both channels.