PUBLISHED ON 14 JUNE, 2012
Telecommunications giant BT has entered the live football arena in a staggering new deal for UK television rights of the Premier League.
BT won two of the seven packages of matches on offer to bidders, meaning they will broadcast 38 live Premier League games in a three-year deal, starting from the 2013/2014 season.
Under the terms of the new domestic deal done by the Premier League, each match broadcasted live in the UK will be worth £6.6 million.
This is a phenomenal statistic, especially with the depressing economic climate around in the world today.
The overall value of the new deal, which will cover the 2013/2014 to 2015/2016 seasons is estimated to be worth £3 billion.
The lion's share stays with BSkyB
As widely anticipated, BSkyB will continue its unbroken partnership with the FA Premier League.
They won five of the seven packages available, securing the rights to 116 matches.
Sky Sports has confirmed that the packages won mean that the highly acclaimed Super Sunday and Monday Night Football will remain a forefront on the channel for the next four years.
The Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore praised BSkyB’s continued partnership with the most exciting league in Europe.
He said on the official FA Premier League website; “The continuing support of BSkyB for Premier League football is significant beyond the revenues delivered; the longevity and quality of their commitment has done much for the English game as a whole.
“We are very happy to see this relationship maintained for another three seasons.”
BT is a surprising winner
The packages BT won are mainly for Saturday lunchtime matches, including the first match of each season and midweek offerings.
The Saturday early kick-off format is an area where Sky had monopolised since 1997, even during the days where they offered pay-per-view games through the Premiership Plus service.
BT will be paying £246 million for its share in the new broadcast deal and have said that it will launch a football channel to cover the games.
Included in the deal are 18 first pick games, which means that Sky have also lost the exclusive deal they have had of all the big head-to-head encounters such as Manchester United’s showdowns with Arsenal and Liverpool’s meetings against Chelsea.
Full details and pricing figures will be announced by the company in due course.
A big blow for ESPN
It is unclear whether they bid for rights or decided against it but a potential favourite, Al-Jazeera were not successful.
BT’s joy is a significant blow for ESPN, who will face a notable drop in subscribers on the back of this news.
ESPN has been an official partner of the Premier League since 2009, picking up the rights relinquished by Setanta Sports following the Irish’s company collapse due to huge debts.
They have showed 23 live matches each year since.
ESPN still will have live rights to the FA Cup, the Europa League and Serie A amongst its various football deals but the Premier League deal was a crucial incentive for most of its subscribers, who might be considering their renewals in the coming weeks.
Last month, a bid of £179.7 million was enough for the BBC to retain the free-to-air highlights of Premier League football.
Their new deal will also allow viewers to catch up with the main Match of the Day show on the BBC iPlayer catch-up service, something currently unavailable. BBC has been the home of Premier League highlights since it outbid ITV back in 2004.
The clubs are the main winners
The new total of live matches will come to 154 between BSkyB and BT, which is an increase of 16 on the current deal and means more than 40 per cent of Premier League matches will be broadcast live.
Fans will be excited by the new deal with more live coverage of their favourite teams. Sky Sports has confirmed that every club will be shown at least four times a season under the deal and even in the current contract that often is more than the required amount.
The clubs will be the big winner from this deal, with each side competing in the 2013/2014 season likely to receive a £14 million boost.
Former culture secretary David Mellor told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme; “It’s a great deal but the danger is the money will not be used properly.
One of the main things the money should be used for is to try and ensure the traditional fan is not priced out of the game. My season ticket at Chelsea next season is costing me over £5,000 and it’s not the most expensive either.”
What they decide to do with the extra money is upto them but if it’s on more inflated player wages, higher ticket prices for fans and agent fees, it could be seen as a pure and expensive waste.
The Premier League continues to defy the recession
When BSkyB signed an exclusive deal with the Premier League when it formed in 1992, the rights cost £191 million and only 60 games were shown live.
With each deal that has happened since, the price has continued to increase but this shows Sky’s dedication to the most enterprising domestic competition in football.
Its coverage has revolutionised football for the better, taking detail to another level and this new deal strengthens its position as the leader for televised sport.
By bringing back Monday Night Football into their plans a few seasons ago and attracting the bigger clubs back to this format from the early days; it makes the majority of their live fixtures intriguing to watch on television.
The BT deal has taken everyone by surprise and it will be interesting to see their plans now they have entered the football market.
Setanta Sports deal turned into its downfall and the impact ESPN has had since 2009 is limited.
In a game that Sky has monopolised for over 20 years, it could be seen as a risk for BT to come into the action at this precarious time for most.
In an era where many media outlets have to make significant budget cuts in the recession, this astonishing deal suggests that the Premier League has strong partners in BSkyB and BT and is immune to the everyday economic issues.
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