The premier league fears BSkyB's bid to renew its TV contract in 2004 will be considerably lower than the £1.1bn it paid last time. It is seen as highly unlikely that Sky will have any competition when the time comes to bid again.
The BBC and ITV have effectively ruled themselves out and cable companies NTL and Telewest are both deep in debt.
With no competition Sky will no doubt be tempted to enter a lower bid. The premier is concerned that Sky is not fully exploiting what it already has and wants to see more effort to sell matches overseas.
The league did consider launching its own TV channel in 2000 when the rights were last up for grabs, but in the end this plan came to nothing.
Whatever happens, Sky will want to ensure that it keeps the rights which are key to driving subscriptions for its satellite television service.
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