Premiership Rights To Be Decided By Closed Bid

The chairmen of England’s Premier League football clubs have decided that the decision as to who buys the broadcast rights to Premiership games will be decided by sealed-bid auction.

The new process means that those whose bids for the 66 live matches, 40 pay-per-view matches or the free-to-air highlights made it onto the shortlist after the first round of bidding (see Broadcasters Need More Than Money To Win Premier League Rights) will be asked to submit sealed bids by next Wednesday. The highest bidder in each category will win the rights and no broadcaster will be allowed to acquire more than one package. The outcome is expected to be announced on Thursday.

This will be the first time that the club chairmen will not play a part in deciding which broadcaster buys the rights. Last week ONdigital and NTL, thought to be major contenders for the main live match packages, were said to be complaining to the European Commission over what they saw as favouritism by the Premier League when it comes to their main rival BSkyB (see Sharewatch). It is hoped that the closed bid will eliminate these fears.

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