Sky Sports and BT Sport have retained the rights to broadcast live Premier League matches for 2016-2019 in a deal worth £5.1bn, a 70% increase on the previous deal.
In total, 168 games per season were on offer across three seasons from 2016 and split into seven packages, with 14 more games up for grabs than the last time the rights were auctioned in 2012.
Sky Sports have paid £4.2bn for five packages to show 126 games per season, including the new Friday evening slot, Saturday lunchtimes (currently on BT), plus its flagship Super Sunday afternoon slots and Monday night matches.
BT Sport won two packages of 42 matches per season, worth a total of £960m, including the Saturday tea-time slot at 5.30pm (currently shown on Sky), plus midweek games and selected fixtures on Saturdays.
Under the previous deal, Sky paid £2.3bn for 116 matches while BT paid £738m for 38 games per season, with the competition between the two media giants driving a dramatic 70% rise on the previous contract.
The average cost to the broadcasters of a single live Premier League match under the new three-year deal will £10.2m per game.
Sky said it will pay £1.392bn per year, or £11.07m per match, for the rights to broadcast 126 live matches, 10 more than currently, which is the maximum that any broadcaster was allowed to bid for under the auction rules.
BT, meanwhile, will pay £320m per season against £246m per season at present and the communications giant, who launched its sports channels in August 2013, said that equated to £7.6m per game.
It means Sky will pay a huge £4.1bn of the total £5.136bn deal between the two rival broadcasters, with Sky paying significantly more than last time to retain its position as the home of the lion’s share of live games, while BT has kept hold of two packages, though both deals are well above the £4bn that many analysts had originally expected and well above the £3bn paid for the current contract.
Both firms use live football not only as a way to encourage new customers to pay for their services but to defend other parts of their empire, particularly the sale of broadband internet packages.
Sky, which is 39 percent-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and synonymous with top-flight English football, said it would cut costs within the business and likely raise some prices for customers to afford the new contract.
It has expanded its business in recent years beyond premium sporting events such as Premier League football and now offers a wide range of TV output, including exclusive movies and drama to customers, who can also take telephone and broadband packages.
But Sky has faced a far greater challenge in recent years, since the deep-pocketed BT emulated its business model by buying up broadcast rights to sporting events to attract customers to its new superfast broadband platform.
The 169-year-old telecoms company had already ramped up the pressure on Sky by winning the right to show all live UEFA Champions League matches for three years from the 2015/16 season, forcing Sky to up its game in the auction to retain its position as the leading Premier League broadcaster.
There had been reports that Discovery, co-owners of Eurosport and Qatar-based beIN Sports, plus the likes of Apple, Google and Vodafone, were also interested in bidding for the rights, but it is thought that only Discovery and beIN made any sort of approach, with its bids ultimately proving unsuccessful, although the Premier League refused to confirm this.
It is unclear whether the increase will affect ticket prices, while the Premier League said £56m a year has been earmarked for grassroots projects, including 50 artificial pitches, though leading pundits and politicians clamoured for the huge rise in TV rights revenue to be passed down to fans and grassroots football.
Full details of the new £5bn Premier League TV rights deal can found below.
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WON 5 PACKAGES A, C, D, E, G 126 games per season
– A: Saturday 12.30pm 28 games (6 first picks) – C: Sunday 1.30pm/2.15pm 28 games (15 second picks) – D: Sunday 4.00pm/4.30pm 28 games (18 first picks) – E: Monday/Friday 8.00pm 28 games (15 third picks) – G: Bank Holiday/Sundays 14 games (2 first picks)Sky Sports has retained its position as the home of the majority of top Premier League matches after winning the rights to 126 live matches a season from 2016/17 to 2018/19.
In what it considers a “successful outcome” to the Premier League’s tender process, Sky Sports has kept its grip on five packages of live rights, ensuring that Sky will be the place to follow the many of the biggest matches and stories throughout the Premier League season.
Having paid well over £4bn to secure its latest set of live rights, an increase of nearly £2bn in comparison to its previous deal, Sky has paid a significant price to screen three times as many live Premier League matches as any other broadcaster, including the best match picks and the most-watched slots in the schedule.
By securing the rights to matches on Friday evenings for the first time, Sky Sports will also bring subscribers an new way to start the weekend with live Premier League football, with its expanded schedule remaining a key part of Sky’s unrivalled breadth of sports coverage across its seven channels.
Sky will screen 126 fixtures a season, versus 116 under the existing contract, with live coverage on more days of the week, with matches on Friday evenings for the first time as well as Saturday afternoons, Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings.
The best match picks, including 26 first picks and 31 second picks, will be shown on Sky Sports, which will feature every Premier League club at least four times a season, while the rights also offer live coverage across a range of platforms, including online and mobile.
Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s Group Chief Executive, commented: “This is a good result and confirms that Sky is the unrivalled choice for sports fans. We went into the Premier League auction with a clear objective and are pleased to have secured the rights that we wanted.”
Barney Francis, Managing Director of Sky Sports, added: “We are looking forward to bringing even more live Premier League football to viewers.
Only Sky Sports will have the best match picks and the best slots so our viewers will be able to follow the biggest matches, the key head to heads and every club at least four times. No other broadcaster comes close.
“The best Premier League coverage is part of an unrivalled range of sport across our seven channels and digital platforms. This new deal follows our recent success in the rights market, ensuring Sky Sports will be the first choice for years to come.”
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WON 2 PACKAGES B, F 42 games per season
– B: Saturday 5.30pm 28 games (9 first picks) – F: Midweek/Saturdays 14 games (3 first picks)BT Sport is to show more live top-flight football matches on its channels after winning exclusive live rights to 42 Premier League matches in each of the 2016/17 to 2018/19 seasons, an increase of four matches per season on the current 38.
The new rights will see BT Sport show a live Saturday evening game every Premier League weekend from 2016/17 for three seasons, which will allow BT to build on its current Saturday programming and appeal to an even larger audience, having secured the prime evening TV viewing slot, while BT has also retained the rights to screen selected midweek matches.
In comparison to the 2013-2016 deal, BT will in fact screen less first pick games under the new contract, with 12 set to be shown from 2016-2019 compared to the 18 first choice games available under the current deal.
BT’s 42 Premier League games per season from 2016/17 will be added to the 350 exclusive live matches from the UEFA Champions League and Europa League that BT Sport will be showing from both tournaments starting in August 2015, while the channel also has live rights to the FA Cup for the next three years.
BT Sport currently shows around 50 live matches each season featuring Premier League clubs and will show around 115 of these matches from the 2015/16 season onwards when all competitions featuring Premier League clubs are taken into account.
Football fans will enjoy a wide variety of football coverage with BT Sport, with channels now home to live action from the Premier League, FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League and Europa League. Customers will also enjoy live football matches from top-flight European leagues, including Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1.
John Petter, BT Consumer chief executive, commented: “I am pleased we will be showing Premier League football for a further three years and that we have secured the prime Saturday evening slot.
“These new rights will enhance our existing schedule of football, rugby and other international sport, including all the live footballing action from the UEFA Champions and Europa Leagues starting this summer.
“BT Sport has got off to a strong start, reaching more than five million households and commercial premises, by making itself far more affordable and accessible to sports fans.”
BT Sport was launched in August 2013, when BT made it available to its consumer broadband customers for free.
More than three million households have access to BT Sport, a number that rises to more than five million when wholesale deals are taken into account, while more than 25,000 commercial premises, including 30 per cent of all UK pubs, also have access.
BT reports that its audience figures for top football matches continue to grow, with Premier League viewing on its sports channels up 17 per cent so far this season.
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After one of the most high-profile broadcast auctions of recent times, Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said he was “surprised” by how much the matches had fetched, but he noted that the game was the beneficiary of the two media giants using football to draw and retain customers.
Commenting on the record domestic TV rights deal, Scudamore, said: “Premier League clubs deliver competitive and compelling football to fans in stadiums and on television, driving interest levels to new heights.
“Last season saw record levels of attendance with the highest top-flight crowds since 1949/50, as well as increased viewing figures across all our UK rights holders.
“Both Sky Sports and BT Sport have done a tremendous job in bringing the game to the fans as well as providing the revenue that allows clubs to invest in football, facilities, youth development and their communities.
“It is an endorsement of what the Barclays Premier League delivers that these broadcast partnerships have been extended and enhanced today.
“We are grateful for the continued belief that Sky Sports and BT Sport have in the Premier League and our clubs, both as a sporting competition and organisations to work with. We are also grateful to the significant interest and participation in the process from other highly credible parties.
“This outcome provides a degree of certainty so clubs can continue to invest and run themselves in a sustainable manner; it also allows us to start planning how the Premier League can continue to support the rest of the football pyramid from the grassroots upwards.
“This structure also allows us to strike a balance between match-attending fans and those who choose to watch on television. Keeping grounds full is a priority for the Premier League and our clubs, and I am sure the flexible ticketing policies that have helped keep attendances so high will continue to develop.
“Although we have had a successful outcome for this process, following on from the highlights’ award, there is still the ongoing Ofcom investigation to be concluded.
“We remain confident that the Premier League’s live UK broadcasting rights are sold in a way that is compatible with both UK and EU competition law as well as being of great benefit to the whole of English football.”
Scudamore said the Premier League had received a broad interest in its rights but would not say who else had bid to show the games.
There was strong speculation throughout the process that Discovery, co-owners of Eurosport, and Qatar-based beIN Sports would enter the bidding war for the live rights, but it is widely reported that both submitted bids which were ultimately unsuccessful.
The bidding process, coupled with the battle for dominance between Sky and BT for broadband, phone and TV services, has pushed up the price for the right to broadcast Premier League matches substantially in recent years.
Ofcom is currently investigating whether there is enough competition in the way in which the broadcast rights to Premier League matches are sold, following a complaint by Virgin Media in November. It will publish its initial findings in March.
Virgin asked Ofcom to halt the auction process shortly before bidding was due to commence until the regulator had completed its initial investigation, but the application was refused.
Bidding for digital rights, delayed coverage and overseas rights to broadcast Premier League matches will come up for auction next year, while the BBC recently retained the rights to screen free-to-air highlights, ensuring Match of the Day remains on BBC One until at least 2019.
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