ESPN could bid for Premier League TV rights

American sports broadcaster ESPN is understood to be interested in acquiring a single package of television rights to live Premier League football matches.

The Premier League has asked for bids to be in by Tuesday for the right to televise its live matches for three years from August 2010.

According to reports, the games are being split into six packages as with the current rights deal.

BSkyB and Setanta, the two present rights holders, look certain to bid. BSkyB paid £1.3 billion for four packages last time around, while Setanta paid £392 million for two packages (see Sky And Setanta Share Remaining Premiership Rights).

ESPN, which is 80% owned by Disney and 20% by the Hearst Corporation, is expected to bid to offer live Premier League matches as part of a basic tier of channels available to subscribers on a multichannel platform like BSkyB.

The effects of the credit crunch could mean that the UK rights to live games will be sold for up to 10% less than the previous figure of £1.7 billion, although the League is expected to make up the difference on sales of international rights.

Sources at the Premier League claim that a decision will be made by February 14.

ESPN: http://espn.go.com/