BSkyB has boosted its football portfolio by acquiring the right to broadcast, tape-delayed, all the Premiership games not included in its live packages for three years from the 2004/5 season.
The satellite TV company is thought to have paid £60-£70 million for the privilege to show ‘near-live’ games on TV and clips of all top flight matches on the internet. This is in addition to the £1.024 billion offered for all four packages of live rights (see
BSkyB And BBC Big Winners In Premiership Bidding Contest).
Mobile carriage rights to show Premiership action have been acquired by operators 3 and Vodafone. The Premier League said that the value of the latest packages bought by Sky added to the mobile rights came to more than £100 million.
