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The next round of Premier League TV rights "are up for grabs and there appears to be all to play for, with a number of potential new entrants poised to step into the bidding battle," according to Bill Wilson of the BBC. The league is seeking an increase on the current £5.14B ($6.88B) TV deal which entails 168 live matches a season, with Sky currently holding five packages of games and BT two. The new tender document has been released to interested bidders for the three-year cycle from '19-22. There will be an increased number of games -- 200 out of the total 380 matches each season -- made available for live broadcast. The live rights consist of five packages of 32 matches and two packages of 20 matches per season, "with no single buyer allowed to acquire more than 148 matches each season." Meanwhile, in other changes, there will be three complete rounds of 10 midweek matches shown live, plus one set of Bank Holiday games as well as "eight individual games being shown on a Saturday night." As well as these changes, the current Sky-BT duopoly "could be shaken up by new digital entrants," with WPP advertising exec Martin Sorrell and ManU Exec Vice-Chair Ed Woodward among those predicting an entry into the bidding war by a tech company such as Amazon, Facebook, Twitter or Netflix (
BBC, 12/18).
