Length of contract: 3 years | Annualised value: US$100m | Overall value: US$300m

Broadcaster BSkyB has secured a fifth package of Premier League matches, meaning it can show a total of 115 top-flight English soccer games per season between the summers of 2010 and 2013.

The US$300m spent to secure the package takes the broadcaster's total Premier League spending for the period to US$2.4 billion.

The live broadcast rights are split into six different packages. Under European Commission regulations, one broadcaster cannot take control of all six.

under the current deal, Sky has four of the packages while Irish broadcaster Setanta holds the rights to two. From 2010, Setanta will have just one package - Saturday evenings - as Sky reasserts its dominance over Premier League television coverage.

In total, Sky will pay over US$2.4 billion over the three seasons.

The broadcaster recently announced half-year operating profits up 31 per cent to over US$550 million.

In January, the BBC secured the rights to the highlights of the competition until 2013 after matching the US$242 million it paid to secure its previous contract.

Domestic live rights have failed to rise only once in the Premier League's history, in 2004, when they dipped from US$1.6 billion to US$1.4 billion, and there was a huge leap three years later.

The Premier League hopes to raise another US$1 billion from overseas rights.

"Clearly, economically, times are interesting but we still think we have a premium product, a product broadcasters want and a product broadcasters will fight over," said Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore.

"There will always be competition, there will always be somebody to sell the packages to."

American broadcaster ESPN failed to secure a package of games.