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Premier League

Premier League to Face Pressure to Increase Live Broadcast Availability

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

The Premier League is likely to face increased pressure from media regulators to make more of its top-flight football matches available for live broadcast. This follows a meeting between Ofcom officials and pay-TV providers, where it was suggested that the regulator plans to announce a decision on its investigation into the Premier League rights auction by the end of March. The investigation is centered around the Premier League's decision to limit the number of live matches available for broadcast, which has led to complaints from cable operators such as Virgin Media.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Premier League's decision to limit the number of live matches available for broadcast has led to complaints from cable operators such as Virgin Media.
  • Virgin Media has urged Ofcom to force the Premier League to sell some rights on a non-exclusive basis, allowing more than one broadcaster to show the matches.
  • The Premier League's current auction system has been criticized for limiting the number of live matches available, with only 41% of the season's matches up for grabs in the last auction.
  • The Spanish and German leagues, in contrast, make all matches available for live broadcast.
  • The Premier League has increased the number of matches available per season from 154 to 168, but this is still expected to fall short of meeting the demands of pay-TV providers.
  • The regulator, Ofcom, plans to announce a decision on its investigation by the end of March.
  • The Premier League has maintained that it "sells its audio-visual rights in a way that is compatible with UK and EU competition law and will continue to do so."

Statistics:

  • 41% of the Premier League season's matches were up for grabs in the last auction.
  • BT and Sky bought the live rights for a combined £1bn per season for three seasons in the 2012 auction.
  • The Premier League has increased the number of matches available per season by 14, from 154 to 168.

Sources:

  • The Telegraph
  • Virgin Media
  • Ofcom
  • The Premier League

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