Rumours are continuing in the press over who is likely to bid for the right to broadcast Premiership football matches after 1997. Carlton and the Mirror group are believed to be interested, as are Pearson and MAI.
Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB is favourite to retain the contract, which expires at the end of the 1997 season. BSkyB has preemptive rights to match any competing bid.
Bidding for the contract may start this month. The current £304 million deal was for five years but it is believed the European Commission may insist that any renewal of the contract be limited to a period of two years. The Office of Fair Trading is also currently investigating BSkyB’s deal with the League.
The joint Carlton/Mirror group bid is believed to involve offering a pay-TV deal to broadcast the matches on cable, including a deal involving the ITV network to show certain matches on terrestrial.
See Sports Diary for who has live and higlights rights to television sport.
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