Culture secretary Andy Burnham has announced that the list of sporting events set aside for free-to-air television is to be reviewed.

At a speech to a Royal Television Society conference in London last month, Burnham said that he would be commissioning an independent review to see if any changes need to be made. The current list reserves events such as the FA Cup Final, the Olympics and the Grand National for terrestrial broadcasters, designed to meet public demand and interest. The last review was conducted in 1998, which saw the notable demotion of home test match cricket to the 'B' list of events, which are available to subscription channels.

In his speech, Burnham spoke about the importance of sports broadcasting in providing a powerful sense of community. "It is important that this list moves with the times and people's tastes, ensuring that TV continues to bring the nation together and build community – particularly given our sports policy objectives of driving participation in this Olympic era," he said. "It is 10 years since the last review of listed sports events and I think the time has come to look at it again. We need to look at whether the right sporting events are protected by the list for free-to-air broadcast."