BSkyB Loses Premiership Monopoly In Football Shake-Up
BSkyB’s long running monopoly over top-flight English football has been brought to an end by a new deal with the European Commission designed to bring live Premiership matches back to terrestrial channels.
The agreement will allow broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV to bid for eight Saturday matches each season after European competition commissioner, Mario Monti, ordered a shake-up of BSkyB’s existing £1.024 billion deal with the Premier League.
Earlier this year the satellite broadcaster beat off competition from rivals to win the rights to screen 138 live Premiership games a season for three years, beginning with the 2004-2005 season (see BSkyB And BBC Big Winners In Premiership Bidding Contest).
The European Commission forced the Premier League to split its matches into four packages in an attempt to allow other broadcasters to bid for them. However, BSkyB walked away with all the live rights, in a deal that raised serious competition concerns (see Rival Broadcasters Round On BSkyB’s Premiership Deal).
The new agreement means that BSkyB will have to allow another terrestrial broadcaster to show eight out of thirty one Saturday matches, possibly as early as next season. However, the League has agreed not to restrict all its live games to a single broadcaster after the 2006-2007 season.
Monti said: “For the first time in the history of the Premier League, free-to-air TV will have a realistic opportunity to show live matches. There are very real concerns with the way the league has been treating fans.”
The value of the League’s present deal with BSkyB is unlikely to be affected by the new agreement, but the satellite broadcaster could offer less money to show live Premiership matches in the future.
A spokesman for the Premier League said: “The agreement protects the principle of competitive joint selling, which underpins the integrity of the competition and significantly for fans, maintains the quality of the game both now and in the future.”
BSkyB recently sold its 9.9% stake in Manchester United for around £62 million, as it continues to cut back its investment in individual football clubs. The buyer was revealed as The Cubic Expression Company owned by existing shareholders JP McManus and John Magnier (see BSkyB Offloads Manchester United Stake).
Premier League: 020 7298 1600 www.premierleague.com
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