BSkyB Helps Football League With £95m TV Rights Deal

BSkyB has secured a £95m TV rights deal with the Football League to screen live matches from the Nationwide Football League and Worthington Cup.

The four-year deal, which sees BSkyB picking up the pieces after the collapse of the League’s TV rights agreement with ITV Digital (see ITV Digital Dispute Goes Into Extra Time), will deliver over 300 live matches to Sky Sports between August 2002 and the end of the 2005-6 football season.

The £95m deal represents a significant discount on the £315m price agreed with ITV, but is close to the sum that the League agreed to accept as a settlement (see

Managing director of Sky Sports, Vic Wakeling, added: “We hope that the clubs can now plan for the future and we will soon schedule the first live matches, with the League and the clubs, so that fans can plan their opening weeks of the season.”

However, the deal does not appear to eased the Football League’s determination to continue with a £178m law suit against ITV Digital’s owners, Carlton and Granada (see Football League Kicks Off Action Against ITV Digital Owners). It is understood that the League will appear in the High Court later this month to seek a declaration that Carlton and Granada are liable as guarantors for payments owed by ITV Digital.

BSkyB: 020 7705 3000 www.sky.com Football League: 0870 4420 1888 www.football-league.co.uk

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