As it stands, Sky has exclusive rights to the Premier League until 2007, having paid 拢1.1bn for the three-year broadcasting rights deal, but the European Commission wants to see the rights shared by more than one broadcaster.
East joined Sky from the head of sport position at ITV in 1995. He helped to build Sky up to be one of the most powerful sports broadcasters in the UK and helped negotiate many of the its sports contracts including football.
He will be a strong asset should Setanta Sports attempt to bid for the rights, which the company has often hinted at.
A consortium of NTL and Telewest and private equity groups are also looking at possible bid for the Premier League TV rights.
However, all the bidders are left guessing while the European Commission continues discussions with the Premier League about restrictions on the sale of the rights.
Discussions are now believed to be centreing on the maximum number of matches that can be shown by any single broadcaster.
Setanta Sports was set up in 1992 to distribute Irish sports such as hurling and Gaelic football to expatriates, but now operates seven channels in seven countries.
In the UK, the group owns the rights to the Scottish Premier League.
It also operates in Australia, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria, as well as in Ireland.
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