Sky’s the limit as Premier League secures billions once again

04 February 2009 | Posted in Broadcast, Soccer | By Adam Fraser

Length of contract: 3 years | Annualised value: US$700m | Overall value: US$2.1 billion

Broadcaster BSkyB, the subscription-only television network which has pioneered the phenomenal rise in live soccer broadcasting over the last 15 years, has retained the lion's share of the rights to the English Premier League for another three years.

The deal matches Sky's previous arrangement with the Premier League, in which the broadcaster paid around US$2.1 billion for the four packages they have once again secured.

In effect, Sky will pay more than US$10 million for each live game.

The live broadcast rights are split into six different packages. Under European Commission regulations, one broadcaster cannot take control of all six, though Sky can choose to bid for one of the remaining two packages when the second-round bidding begins this week.

Both are currently owned by Irish broadcaster Setanta, which paid more than US$500 million for the pair and is expected to fight to keep them.

US network ESPN is also believed to be interested.

"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."

The four packages give Sky the right to broadcast 92 live matches per season over the course of the deal, which will run from 2010 until 2013. In addition, every match on the network is broadcast in High Definition.

While the break-up of the rights into six packages was intended to curtail Sky's virtual monopoly, it has been heavily criticised since it forces soccer fans to pay for more than one subscription broadcaster should they wish to watch all the games, with no price concessions having been made.

Sky 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.