…Setanta’s bid remains in the balance
The Premier League announced yesterday that Sky had been awarded 4 of the 6 live rights packages for the 2010 to 2013 seasons. At this stage, no other details have been announced other than to say the remaining 2 packages are going to a second round of bidding, with everyone involved sworn to secrecy!
Will ESPN bid enough to join the premier league party?
So, reading between the very few lines it looks like we can say that Sky will have at least the same number of games as they currently have and, because they are allowed to bid for one of the remaining two packages, could actually increase that number. Setanta currently hold the remaining 2 packages, so it will be interesting to see if they have bid enough to hold on, or whether any new entrants, perhaps ESPN, have done enough to join the party.
For the armchair fan, it’s looking as though the situation will broadly remain as is. For the devoted, a subscription to both Sky Sports and Setanta will be needed. Both these channels can be watched either via the Sky satellite platform, or Virgin Media’s cable service. Right now, the benefit of Sky is that, for an extra £10 a month, you can watch Torres, Ronaldo & Cahill in the glory of high definition too. For the occasional viewer, it may be that the Setanta service alone is enough and this can also be accessed on the digital terrestrial Freeview platform or BT Vision. For the very occasional viewer, it will be reassuring to know that the familiar opening bars to Match of the Day will be there until 2013 to bring all the usual highlights.
We’ll keep an eye on future announcements and let you know what they mean. It will be interesting to see what can happen with the near live rights (ie a broadcaster can show the games in full some time after full time) and on demand services. From a commercial perspective, it will also be interesting to see what prices have been paid this time around. Has the TV rights gravy train come to a credit crunching stop? Will our pampered stars still be able to afford garages full of smashed up Ferraris? Watch this space…