Election delays FTA sport ruling

The government's plan to revise the list of sporting events protected for free-to-air television has been put on hold due to the election campaign.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown confirmed that the general election will go ahead on May 6, with all parties now launching their campaigns in earnest.

Culture secretary Ben Bradshaw had hoped to reach a decision on the controversial proposal, which would see the Ashes series join the protected list, before the election went ahead.

However, Labour now has until Monday to put forward any legislation that is unlikely to be reversed when the new government comes into power, making it all but impossible for the list to be forced through.

Speaking to BBC News, a DCMS spokesperson said: "There will be no announcement in advance of the election."

Last November, a panel led by former Football Association chief executive David Davies recommended that the cricket series against Australia, along with England's football tournament qualifying matches, the whole of Wimbledon, the Rugby World Cup and golf's Open Championship should join the list of events protected for free-to-air TV.

In turn, the Epsom Derby, rugby league's Challenge Cup final and the Winter Olympics would be removed from the list.

The delayed decision will please sporting bodies in the UK, particularly the England and Wales Cricket Board, which has been highly critical of the proposal.

The ECB, which recently started a three-year, £300m deal with Sky, claimed that giving the Ashes FTA-protection would take vital money away from grassroots cricket development in Britain.

If the Conservative Party secures power at the general election, then the recommended list could be amended, put out to further consultation or scrapped entirely.

In February, shadow sports minister Hugh Robertson backed the ECB's campaign against greater FTA protection, acknowledging that it would cut off a vital revenue stream for the increasingly under pressure UK sport.