BSkyB Unable To Reduce Football Rights Bid

BSkyB’s existing contract for Premier League football rights could prevent it from submitting a lower bid when the current £1.1bn three-year deal comes up for renewal.

According to a report in the Financial Times, a Premiership club chairman has said that a clause in BSkyB’s contract stipulates that if the satellite operator bids for the rights again, it cannot offer less than it is currently paying.

BSkyB has made football the cornerstone of its pay-TV strategy and it had been thought that with the prospect of no rival bids the company would be able to pay less for the Premier League rights than before.

A spokesman for BSkyB said: “At this stage I cannot comment other than to say that reports are incorrect.”

ITV Digital, the loss-making digital terrestrial TV platform owned by Carlton and Granada, is believed to have begun preliminary talks with the Football League to renegotiate its £315m TV rights deal with the 72 clubs in the Nationwide League. Speculation suggests that the future of ITV Digital would be placed in increasing doubt (see ITV Digital To Restructure; Merger Talks Revived?) if Carlton and Granada are unsuccessful in substantially reducing the price they pay for the rights.

BSkyB: 020 7705 3000 www.sky.com ITV Digital: 0808 100 0101 www.itv-digital.co.uk

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