A Football World Cup final or the Olympic Games only on pay-TV, these are the scenarios which the EU wanted to prevent from happening.
Therefore, the AVMSD lays down framework conditions to enable Member States to ensure that broadcasters under its jurisdiction do not broadcast on an exclusive basis events of major importance for society in such a way as to deprive a substantial proportion of the public of the possibility of following such events. Each Member State is entitled to draw up a list of events which are seen as being of major importance for society. Besides that, on the basis of the principle of mutual recognition, Member States must ensure that broadcasters under their jurisdiction respect the lists of other Member States which notified them to the Commission.
The events concerned may be national or other, such as the Olympic Games, the Football World Cup or the European Football Championship, an inauguration, marriage or burial of a king, queen or head of state, or an important cultural event. According to Article 14 of the AVMSD, Member States notify the Commission of the measures they take, or intend to take, concerning the exercise of exclusive broadcasting rights to events of major importance for society. The Commission must seek the opinion of the Committee pursuant to Article 29 of the Directive (the so-called "Contact Committee" composed of representatives of all Member States), and it must assess the compatibility of the national measures with European Union Law. In case of positive outcome of this evaluation process, the measures are published in the Official Journal of the European Union.