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According to a report in The Observer newspaper, Sky is demanding that the Premier League give it exclusive rights for live football action for the 2004-2005 season in return for £1bn.

It could be the only way that the Premier League gets the cash football needs. If there is no exclusive agreement, the value of the deal is likely to plummet by as much as £150m to £850m. It could hit many loss-making clubs, already weighed down by soaring wage bills, with a double whammy.

Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League, said recently that although "hyper-inflationary" deals were in the past, the league did not expect to see a drop in revenues.

The EC is thought to be considering blocking such a deal as it would create a monopoly, locking out competition. The EC competition chief Mario Monti is thought to want to attempt to open the Premier League up to competition from other broadcasters.

BSkyB has had the monopoly on live Premiership football since 1992, leaving the BBC and ITV to fight over the scraps, otherwise known as the highlights.

The paper quoted one source saying: "The press has reported that they are negotiating to sell those rights packages to a single broadcaster. If this is true, there's a competition issue here."

Earlier this year, the Premier League was forced to defend its current £1.1bn three-year TV rights deal with BSkyB to the EC. The deal currently gives BSkyB exclusive live rights to screen 66 Premiership matches each season and is due to be renewed next year.

The EC believes the deal is anti-competitive and wants to amend the package to allow more broadcasters to screen live matches.

Last month, it looked like live Premiership football matches could make a return to ITV and the BBC as the Premier League 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.

The Premier League is offering three packages of rights, a total of 138 live matches -- 32 more games than under the current deal.

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