Ofcom has given its consent to the BBC and ITV to broadcast exclusive live coverage of the UEFA European Women’s Football Championship Finals Tournament in 2025.
We consulted between 12 May and 9 June 2025 on requests from the BBC and ITV for consent to broadcast exclusive live coverage of the UEFA European Women’s Football Championship Finals Tournament 2025 (“the Tournament”). The Tournament is due to take place in Switzerland from Wednesday 2 July until Sunday 27 July.
The UEFA European Women’s Football Championship Finals Tournament is designated as a Group A listed event for the purposes of the Broadcasting Act 1996 (“the Act”). Under the Act, Ofcom’s consent is needed for exclusive live coverage of listed events.
The BBC and ITV plan to share coverage of the Tournament, with each planning to broadcast 15 matches exclusively, and both broadcasters showing the final. The BBC plans to broadcast live coverage of its matches predominantly on BBC One or BBC Two, but may also show matches on BBC Three where there are scheduling clashes. The BBC has also acquired the rights to broadcast live radio coverage of the Tournament.
ITV plans to broadcast live coverage of most of its matches on ITV1, with this also being shown on STV in northern and central Scotland. It also plans to broadcast a small number of matches on ITV4 where there are scheduling clashes.
Our consultation explained that we were minded to grant consent to the BBC and ITV for the Tournament, and noted our provisional view that broadcasters of both “qualifying” and “non-qualifying” services (for the purposes of the Act) had an opportunity to acquire the rights to live coverage of the Tournament on fair and reasonable terms.
We did not receive any responses to our consultation.
We have therefore decided to grant consent to the BBC and ITV’s application to broadcast exclusive live coverage of the Tournament, noting that their plans secure that live coverage of the Tournament is available for free and to audiences across the UK.1
[1] ITV applied on behalf of the Channel 3 licensees and the licensees for ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 for consent to show coverage on these channels. The Channel 3 licensees are ITV Broadcasting Limited, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, UTV Limited, STV Central Limited and STV North Limited. The licensee for ITV2 and ITV4 is ITV2 Limited. The licensee for ITV3 is ITV Digital Channels Limited.