Breaking news: The Premier League has announced that out of the six TV packages available for bidding in the UK for the 2010-2013 seasons, Sky Sports won five of those packages with Setanta getting the sixth and final one. That means that ESPN’s attempt to bid on the rights ended in failure — in the UK, at least.
This is a huge win for Sky Sports who have increased their number of packages from four (for the 2007-2010 seasons) to five. Setanta Sports will be showing less games because they’ll be moving from two packages (2007-2010 seasons) to one. But the biggest loser is ESPN who despite a lot of the chatter about the Disney-owned company making an aggressive raid on rights to the UK EPL TV market ended up empty handed.
Now that we know who will own the UK TV rights for the Premier League for 2010-2013, the next step for the Premier League is to allow broadcasters to begin bidding on the US TV rights to the Premiership. We should expect to hear who wins that battle in 1-2 months from now. Stay tuned to EPL Talk for all of the latest developments.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I think it's Setanta who have lost the most. Who is going to subscribe to that channel for 1 game a week?
Question. If I'm in America, is directv still the best place to see prem league games? are Sky Sports/B-Sky-B games on directv?
Hi Paul, DirecTV is your best bet. No matter what happens, you'll be able to get the widest selection of Prem coverage in the States (at a cost, of course). They're the only ones that have Setanta Xtra. Plus you can get Setanta Sports, Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN and GolTV from them, among others.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Hey Paul, I just ordered my Direct TV from these guys. I was installed 2 days after I placed my order. Really happy so far.
you'll get all that on at&t u-verse aswell
Agreed. Will be interesting to see the distribution of games in the US.
I think that will apply to Setanta in the U.S. I think they will show only one game a week. So there is no point for Setanta Extra. I think Fox Soccer Channel (owned by Murdock with links to BSkyB) will show the majority of Prem matches. Disney knows as much about Football as I do about the ballet.So except Fox Soccer gaining supremacy and Setanta being in the shadows. Welcome to good old days. Remember how life was like before Setanta. What a joke that network will turn out to be lol. Cheers Lads. Viva Sky and Fox Soccer.
These deals were for domestic coverage, not international.
The money going around is obscene
The just announced deal was for UK only. Setanta continues to split the Premier League 50:50 with Fox in USA