The federal government should strengthen rules designed to keep major sporting events on free-to-air TV by adding more women’s sports to the list of protected matches and closing loopholes in the current scheme to ensure it captures streaming services.

Western Sydney University’s David Rowe also believes that the government should not allow online streamers to have more access to events now on the list because services such as Foxtel’s Kayo Sport are still less accessible to Australians than free-to-air TV.