BSkyB’s Football Rights Deal Could Face Investigation
BSkyB’s £1.02 billion deal to broadcast live Premiership football for a further three years could be investigated by the European Commission following concerns it breaches competition laws.
The Premier League had structured the deal in accordance with the EC’s desire that the media rights be split into four separate packages to promote competition and encourage competitive bids from terrestrial broadcasters (see Premiership Moves Goal Posts On Media Rights Packages).
However, BSkyB managed to maintain its monopoly on live top flight football by successfully securing all four packages on an individual basis (see BSkyB And BBC Big Winners In Premiership Bidding Contest). It paid £358 million for the first package of games to be shown on Sunday afternoons, £282 million for the second tranche to be screened on Monday nights and £384 million for packages three and four, which could be available on a pay per view basis on Saturday afternoons.
The Premier League insists it addressed all of the EC’s concerns by ensuring that no bid was conditional on another. However, a spokesman for European competition commissioner, Mario Monti, told the Financial Times: “We will request additional information on whether the individual packages attracted several bids. We like it that there were four packages but we would like to see a situation where each of the four packages was attractive enough to attract more than one bid.”
The EC has made no secret of the fact that it considers the way the Premier League sells its media rights to be anti-competitive (see BSkyB Could Face Red Card Over Premiership Rights Bid). However, it is unclear whether Brussels will move to scupper the new arrangement, meaning that the League would be forced to hold another auction.
BSkyB’s chief executive, Tony Ball, has welcomed the deal, saying: “The new arrangements are good news for Premiership clubs and good news for viewers, who can look forward to many more matches on Sky than ever before.”
European Commission: www.europa.eu.int Premier League: 020 7298 1600 www.premierleague.com
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