TV Giants Battle For Live Premiership Football Rights
Live Premiership football matches could return to ITV and the BBC for the first time in over a decade as the Premier League announces major changes to the way it sells its main media rights package.
BSkyB has enjoyed a monopoly on live top-level English football since it first secured the broadcast rights to Premiership games back in the early nineties, leaving ITV and the BBC to compete for the highlights.
However, the Premier League has altered the shape of its next live UK package, which starts at the beginning of the 2004/2005 season, splitting it into three layers that clear the way for ITV and the BBC to win some live rights to Premiership football.
Broadcasters will be offered a gold package of 38 games to be played on Sundays at 4pm, a silver package comprising 38 Monday night games and a bronze package, which includes 62 games on Saturdays at new kick-off times of 1pm and 5.15pm.
Whoever secures the gold package will get the first pick of games and will be able to dictate who plays on Sundays. The Monday night winner will be offered second choice, leaving the broadcaster that buys the bronze package of Saturday games with the final selection.
The changes to the way the football rights are sold reflect the concerns of the European Commission, which, led by Mario Monti, wants to see more games on television and more competition between broadcasters.
Commenting on the move, Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, said: “The Premier League has offered what we believe to be an extremely varied and attractive set of rights, which will give consumers greater choice than ever before.”
BSkyB, which is thought to have paid more than £1 billion to broadcast Premiership matches between 2001 and 2004, is widely expected to bid for the gold package and there appears to be nothing stopping the satellite giant from acquiring all three layers of coverage. However, this could prompt the intervention of the European Commission, which forced the break-up of the rights package in the first place.
Premiership clubs are thought to be in favour of keeping BSkyB as a broadcast partner as the company is expected to offer less for the rights if its exclusivity deal is broken.
Premier League: 020 7298 1600 www.premierleague.com
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