‘Near-Live’ Football For Sky And BT Vision

BSkyB, in a joint bid with BT, has won ‘near-live’ rights to 242 FA Premier League Matches with a three-year £84.3m deal covering the 2007-08 to 2009-10 seasons.

BSkyB will be able to show full delayed coverage or extended highlights of all Barclays Premiership matches which are not broadcast live.

Vic Wakeling, managing director of Sky Sports, said about the new deal: “These near-live rights, added to the live matches, give Sky Sports unrivalled Premiership coverage.

“We can now promise Football First until the end of the decade and new ways of watching games, on demand, through broadband.

“Our recent live deal brings more live Premiership matches to Sky Sports with the best games and biggest head-to-heads.Sky remains the home of football.”

On May 5 Sky was awarded four packages of live rights, each of 23 matches, for seasons 2007-08 to 2009-10, meaning that all 92 matches shown live during the soccer season will be shown on Sky Sports.

Sky: 08702 40 40 40 www.sky.com