Although it refused to comment, it is understood that Sky this week sent out a tender document for the games that BBC and ITV will bid for, after NTL, Telewest and Setanta, the Irish pay-TV company, dropped out of the contest.
In February, Brand Republic reported that the BBC and ITV were set to go head to head for the rights, following a ruling by the European Commission on Sky's monopoly of the coverage. Following an investigation, the EC competition commissioner Mario Monti claimed that the way the Premier League has packaged matches made it inevitable that they would end up exclusively with Sky.
The package up for grabs will include one top-flight match a month, which will air at 5.15pm on Saturdays, giving the winning bidder action from some of the Premier League's biggest clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle.
It is expected that Sky will expect a large sum for the rights to reimburse it for its loss of exclusivity and the £1bn it paid for the rights to 138 live matches.
According to Broadcast magazine today, Sentanta is now only interested in Irish rights if it can convince Sky to sell them separately. A source close to the bidding process told the magazine that NTL and Telewest were unlikely to get many more subscribers by offering up to eight games.
The BBC declined to comment on bidding, but according to insiders the games are seen as the perfect complement to 'Match of the Day' Premiership highlights, which it secured in a £105m deal.
ITV chief executive Charles Allen has also confirmed that he is keen to bid for the games. However, he said that he was "absolutely determined" not to overpay after losing money on the £183m it paid for Premier League highlights in 2000, not to mention the £1.2bn deal for Football League matches that ITV Digital collapsed under the strain of.
The rights are next to be negotiated in 2007, when the contract runs out. Next time, the league has promised more division of packages between broadcasters. At present, there is nothing to stop one company from bidding for the lot.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
