±«Óãtv

Andy Murray's efforts at Wimbledon have been among the highlights of ±«Óãtv Sport's coverage in recent years

Today, in Westminster, I addressed a group of MPs and experts on one of the most emotive issues currently facing the industry - the government's review of listed events legislation.

For the ±«Óãtv, the debate on the review is very simple.

Free-to-air listed events benefit audiences in a way that few other television events can manage. The arguments for protecting these events of major national resonance, such as the and , are as relevant today as they were when the system was first put in place.

In a diverse society and fragmenting media landscape, a big sporting moment is one of the few places where people can come together and unite. Major sporting events available on a universal, free-to-air basis must continue to be a cornerstone of our public service broadcasting system and are arguably more important than ever.

And we know that audiences agree.

Research has also told us that there are a core group of fans who are willing to pay to watch sport on television, but that leaves millions who only watch sport on free-to-air-channels. A significant majority of viewers would be lost to sport if they had to pay for it and in that context I believe that making major changes to the current listing structure would irreparably damage the cultural fabric of the UK.

We want to maintain access to sport for people who don't want to pay subscriptions; and, even more crucially, we see it as a public service commitment to help bring different and less mainstream sports to our mass-audience channels.

So with that, I'd like to move on to talking about all of the other things ±«Óãtv Sport has on its plate at the moment.

In 2008 the ±«Óãtv broadcast 1,077 hours of sport on terrestrial TV and 3,500 on our . On radio we broadcast 4,300 hours of output on 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra. We currently show a total of around 57 varieties of sport a year. We are also in the throes of a revolution in the way in which audiences expect their content delivered. Alongside television, that means online, mobile and red button services playing an important role in delivering our content as the national broadcaster.

As we are currently focused on events such as the in February 2010, next year's Football World Cup in South Africa and of course London 2012 - the most important planned event in the UK in our lifetimes and the biggest challenge ever to face ±«Óãtv Sport - cross-platform services are crucial for all broadcasters in order to fully serve audience demands.

The Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg will host the 2010 World Cup final

But there is another serious issue which I feel the ±«Óãtv can play a role in and it is one that is affecting the future of this nation's health.

The has recently released research which shows that just one in eight children benefits from the recommended amount of daily exercise.

Their study concluded that more than two-thirds of all British children will suffer from obesity by 2050.

This is a pressing and serious issue and both individuals and organisations can play an important role. Families, of course, are crucial in this, but government, schools and councils have an important part to play too.

research indicates that watching live sport on TV can genuinely promote interest in sport, with 43% of UK adults saying that they have become more interested in sport as a result of watching it on TV, and for those who never participate in sport the result is 29%.

But the ±«Óãtv as the national broadcaster can also have an important role here.

The power of high-quality sports broadcasting can be a powerful tool in inspiring young people to take up sport and increase participation across the country.

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