The European Commission is prepared to take steps to stop BSkyB retaining exclusive live rights to English Premiership football matches, according to weekend press speculation.
Broadcasting contracts are now up for renewal and in a bid to allay charges of anti-competitive behaviour, the Premier League has split the available games into gold, silver and bronze packages (see
TV Giants Battle For Live Premiership Football Rights).
However, it is believed that Sky, which currently has a monopoly on live Premiership action, has offered £1 billion for all three packages on condition that it gets them exclusively (see BSkyB Bids To Retain Premiership Prize).
This is likely to meet with disapproval from the EU Competition Commission which has already accused the football authorities of price fixing (see Regulators Move The Goalposts On Football Rights) and forced the Premier League to change the way that broadcasting rights are sold.
According to a report in The Observer, the Commission would oppose any scheme which allowed a single broadcaster to scoop all the live rights, as this would constitute a monopoly. Competition authorities in France have already mounted a legal challenge to attempts by Canal Plus to broker a deal based on exclusivity and indications are there will be a similar resolution in the UK.
Under the terms of the current deal, which expires at the end of the 2004/5 season, the Premier League receives £367 million per year from BSkyB for exclusive live coverage of top flight matches (see INSIGHTanalysis: BSkyB In The Box Seat In Premiership Rights Chase). Despite the falling value of sports rights, the League had hoped that this level of income could be maintained.
However, BSkyB has said that it will ‘aggressively’ reduce its bid if it is forced to share the spoils with other television companies (see PVRs Could Be The Next Killer App For BSkyB) and the shortfall is unlikely to be made up elsewhere as the BBC and ITV do not have the resources to compete with the satellite broadcaster in the sporting arena.
