FA TV deal set to shrink by £115m as agreement nears

LONDON - The Football Association is near to signing a £230m deal with the BBC and BSkyB, worth £115m less than the deal it signed three years ago.

The drop in TV revenue is a major blow for the FA, but it has had little choice but to accept the smaller amount of cash on offer because broadcasters are refusing to stump up such large amounts of money for broadcast rights.

According to sources close to the deal, quoted by The Guardian, the new deal is very different from the last. "I think the FA have realised that they have got to take what they have been offered and get the deal done before the Premier League negotiations start."

The current three-year deal under which the BBC and Sky share FA Cup matches and England international home games was worth £345m.

The deal was expected to be announced this morning, but the BBC cancelled a press conference, which was due to be held at 9am this morning.

It is understood that BSkyB has concluded its part of the negotiations, but last-minute contractual hitches have held up the BBC announcing its part of the new three-year deal.

The deal with the FA comes ahead of the battle for the rights to Premiership football.

Early reports suggest that Premiership matches look set to return to ITV and the BBC as the Premier League recently unveiled major changes to the way football is shown on TV, with three new packages that could break BSkyB's stranglehold on the game after 11 years.

BSkyB has had the monopoly on live Premiership football since 1992, but under the deal on offer the Premier League is offering three packages of rights, a total of 138 live matches -- 32 more games than under the current deal, which Sky paid £1.1bn for in 2000.

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