Live English Premier League football "is set to invade British homes on Friday nights, as bidding for the rights to show the games and highlights kicks off between BT, Sky and others," according to Blitz, Mance & Thomas of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The league "is throwing an extra 14 matches into the three-year packages, taking the total number of live games per season to 168." It "has also launched the tender for the free-to-air highlights rights, which is likely to trigger a battle between the BBC and ITV." It "expects to complete the auction rights" for the '16-17 to '18-19 seasons by February. As "with the existing three-year deal, seven live packages are up for grabs." Sky "currently holds five, giving them 116 matches." The other two "are held by BT." Its "dramatic entry into the market two years ago" pushed the value of the U.K. live rights up by 70% to just more than £3B ($4.7B). Under revised tender terms, "the maximum number of matches any single bidder can win is 126." Five of the packages "each consist of 28 matches, the other two 14 each." Analysts’ consensus forecast "is that the price will increase by one-third" -- or about £350M ($550M) a year -- although some anticipate inflation of up to 70%. However, "the auction could yet be disrupted by communications regulator Ofcom, which is considering a complaint by Virgin Media." The league "will begin the tender for the rights" to 80 int'l broadcast contracts after the domestic rights auction is completed (FT, 12/12). BLOOMBERG's Tariq Panja wrote the announcement of the sale "comes amid a probe by U.K media regulator Ofcom into complaints by cable-TV provider Virgin Media Inc. that the sale process breaches competition law and drives up prices for consumers." Viewers in the U.K. "pay some of the highest prices" to watch football, and get to see a lower proportion of live games than citizens in other European countries. The Premier League "is unable to broadcast games that kick off at 3 p.m. on Saturday as part of a regulation to ensure fans attend stadiums" (BLOOMBERG, 12/12). In London, John Plunkett wrote Sky and BT "will go head-to-head for the rights but the cost of live games is likely to be pushed up further by interest from rival broadcasters such as Discovery" -- the U.S. media company that now owns Eurosport -- and the Qatar-backed al-Jazeera. There "has also been speculation that technology companies such as Apple and Google-backed YouTube could bid for digital rights." Some analysts believe that "the expected increased competition could increase the total value of the next live rights deal by 50%" to £4.5B ($7B) (GUARDIAN, 12/12).
