BSkyB takes Premiership mobile rights

by Mark Banham, Brand Republic 12-Jul-06, 11:00

LONDON - Sky Media is set to secure the final package of Premiership League football rights to show highlights of games on mobile phones, beating a collaborative bid from the UK's five mobile phone networks.

The five mobile firms - 3, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone - had been bidding with TWI, the sports production group, on a deal that would have seen each operator take equal rights to Premiership matches from the 2007/2008 season, in exchange for helping TWI with the cost of broadcasting the 380 matches available.

The current deal for highlights of Premier League matches is held by 3 and Vodafone as part of an exclusive three-year deal, which also allows Sky to broadcast highlights online.

The award of the mobile package concludes a round of deals that includes television, online and mobile broadcast rights.

Sky's current £1.02bn four-year TV rights deal with the Premier League expires at the end of the 2006/2007 season.

In June, the FA awarded BSkyB four packages out of the six live television packages available, allowing it to show 92 matches from seasons 2007-2010. Sky paid £1.3bn for the rights.

Due to new European Commission restrictions, Sky had been limited to a maximum of five television packages.

Irish sports broadcaster Setanta was awarded the remaining two packages in a £392m deal. The 46 games Setanta won will mostly be Saturday evening and Monday night games.

Also in June, the BBC retained the rights to broadcast Premier League highlights, ensuring a future for its 'Match of the Day' football show in a three-year £171.6m deal. The package allows the BBC to hold on to the free-to-air highlights rights in the UK from 2007 to 2010.

BT subscribers will also be able to access delayed coverage of the Premier League without the need for a Sky subscription through its BT Vision service.

The mobile deal with BSkyB will span three years and includes 242 games a season from the Barclays Premiership that are not shown live. It will also allow customers of BT Vision to watch the games from 10pm on the day of the match.

Richard Scudamore, Premier League chief executive, said: "This was another competitive auction for what is clearly an attractive rights proposition."

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