There can now be unbridled joy in the land of football at the return of Match of the Day, and Greg Dyke won't have to feel such a failure any more.
Much has been made of the fact that BSkyB is 'only' paying £1.064bn when it will be getting rights to 138 live matches instead of 66. The arithmetic is indisputable. The satellite broadcaster is getting its matches at a bargain basement 40% off.
But the remarkable thing is that BSkyB is paying £1bn at all, for rights that could have been obtained for half that if crude market forces had been operating. The reality is that only one player - BSkyB - has the capacity, the ability and the need to show large numbers of live matches in the UK.
The formula for TV rights is quite simple. Without real competition, the price collapses. Yet for some reason, in this case, it did not happen.
The implications of BSkyB paying £1bn more than it strictly needed to over the three-year contract are clear. It is not only playing a long-term game, but it regards the Premier League as a partner and the creator of Sky's most important single product - a competitive and prosperous league.
Grind the league down and Tony Ball would, over time, have been damaging himself. There was also clever psychology in making sure the total amount bid for the four packages was pitched at just above the £1bn mark, so that the Premiership is getting virtually the same as last time. Giving up extra games may cost the league absolutely nothing because it is unlikely to hit attendances.
The biggest cloud over the BSkyB share price has been the uncertainty over football rights. In one bound that is gone and the future is assured.
BSkyB is already without rivals in the field of subscription TV. As it powers beyond seven million and even eight million subscribers there will only ever be two parties talking to each other about Premier League rights - BSkyB and the Premier League. Brussels can insist on salami-slicing the rights, but it cannot force anyone to actually bid for them.
Yet even Brussels comes out well. From its own dull and dry point of view, it has successfully engineered a superficial form of artificial competition even though it did not make a blind bit of difference to the outcome. Without the Brussels intervention, however, it is unlikely that so many live games would have been made available. And as everyone knows, the more live games there are to watch on TV, the better.
So clear wins for BSkyB, the Premier League, Greg Dyke and the European Union. But above this is a package that represents a big win for the fans.
Perhaps ITV could consider cutting its losses and selling this season's Premiership rights to the BBC. Then everyone would be happy.
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