Premier clubs in anxious wait

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Dec 17, 2003

Newcastle United and the rest of the Premier League clubs were waiting anxiously today for the reaction of Sky Television to the smashing of their monopoly.

If Sky demand a reduction in their pounds 1 billion deal because they have lost their exclusive rights then the shortfall would be passed on to the clubs.

And terrestrial television is unlikely to pay the pounds 3.6 million per game that Sky fork out for their 138 live matches per season.

The BBC and ITV were today weighing up potential bids to attract live Premiership football on to terrestrial television after the Premier League agreed a compromise deal with the European Commission.

The Premier League had come under considerable pressure from the European Commission, which argued that the pounds 1 billion live rights deal with BSkyB breached their monopoly laws.

The worst-case scenario was a potential legal challenge which could have caused the lucrative deal to collapse and may even have ended the collective bargaining stance which is of such financial importance to smaller top-flight clubs. However, the 20 Premier League chairmen yesterday agreed a compromise solution put to them by chief executive Richard Scudamore following a round of meetings in Brussels.

This allows for eight live games to be shown on a terrestrial television channel - such as the BBC or ITV - from next season, when the new three-year deal comes into force.

It has not yet been decided when these matches will be shown, although EC spokeswoman Amelia Torres confirmed that whoever wins the rights should be able to pick fixtures featuring England's leading sides. She said: "These will be top-end Premiership games. I cannot go into the details for the time being, but we are talking about high-quality matches that terrestrial customers would want to watch."

BSkyB, which will sub-tender the rights to those eight games, did not comment on the ruling, which means they no longer have exclusive live rights to the Premiership.

However, the Premier League chairmen are hopeful that there will no major financial impact on the value of the deal already struck with the satellite broadcaster.

That will depend on how much the BBC and ITV - as well as Channel Four or Five - are prepared to bid for the eight live games.

It will also depend on which matches BSkyB decide, or are told, to sell on and whether these include Manchester United against Arsenal or Bolton against Charlton.

A statement from the Premier League read: "We can confirm that a provisional agreement has been reached with the European Commission in order to settle their investigation into our broadcasting rights.

"This agreement meets the Commission's competition concerns and strikes a balance between the interests of fans and broadcasters while maintaining the value of our rights.

"This announcement leaves in place the new deals already negotiated for the next three years and recognises the changes the FA Premier League have made to their broadcasting arrangements over the course of nine months of negotiations."