BSkyB this morning denied that it has made a preemptive bid for the new Premier League contract, following the second report claiming such a move in four months. In October last year, a Financial Times article reported that Sky had held informal negotiations with a number of key clubs in the League with a view to securing the lucrative 2001-2003 broadcasting contract (see BSkyB Denies Having Made £1bn Football Rights Bid). At the time a figure of £1 billion was being associated with the alleged discussions. Sky denied the report.
This morning, the Guardian claims that the satellite broadcaster has attempted to ‘lure’ the Premier League into signing a new deal, thus avoiding the official tendering process. The report claims that the contract is now worth around £2 billion. However, BSkyB quickly reacted to the story, describing it as “utterly false”.
“Sky has not made any offer to the Premier League, nor have we yet been invited to make any offer. The Premier League has still to circulate the tender documents to prospective bidders. It is the Premier League which will decide the timetable for bidding and the nature of the bids it will invite, but we stress that the Premier League has not yet done this. Any talk of any bids being made now by any broadcasters is ill-founded or mischievous,” read a company statement issued this morning.
BSkyB currently holds the exclusive live rights to Premier League games in a contract agreed in 1996 and worth £670 million. However this contract expires at the end of this football season and the Premier League has until June to secure a new broadcasting deal. Sky, along with many other broadcasters, would benefit greatly from taking exclusive live rights to the games as they present many sponsorship, advertising and pay-per-view opportunities.
However, whereas in 1996 BSkyB could easily outbid all rivals, there are now a number of companies which have the financial might to match Sky. The three major cable companies, Cable & Wireless Communications, NTL and Telewest; digital terrestrial broadcaster ONdigital; ITV and possibly Channel 4 and Channel 5 could all be interested in securing the games.
The Premier League has not yet decided whether the games will be sold as a single package to one group or whether a deal with be struck with a number of platforms and broadcasters to provide as wide a distribution as possible.
BSkyB: 020 7705 3000 Premier League: 020 7298 1600
