Bidding Process For Premier League TV Rights Opens
Bidding for the next tranche of television rights for highlights and live games from the Premier League for the seasons 2016/17 to 2018/19 has officially opened.
Broadcasters including Sky Sports, BT Sport and BBC will lead the multi-million pound bidding process. 168 live matches split into seven packages will be up for grabs, with no single bidder able to acquire more than 126 matches.
One of the packages is set to include up to ten live games per season on a Friday evening as part of the new deal. Live matches are currently shared by BT and Sky on Saturday lunchtime and evenings, Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings.
The Premier League has said that the new rights sale would see the continued protection of the Saturday 3pm ‘closed period’, whereby no games can be shown live on television at that time – the purpose of the blackout being to encourage attendance and participant at all levels of football at the traditional kick-off time.
The auction for the rights will take place next year, with contracts likely to be signed in February. The majority share of the matches is currently held by Sky, who paid £2.3bn for 116 live matches per season in a three-year deal agreed in 2012. The remaining 38 games were bought by BT at a cost of £778m.
