THE PREMIER LEAGUE will make dozens more games available in its next TV rights auction as clubs target an increase on the huge £5 billion (€5.7 billion) deal they secured last time, a report said Friday.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper said for the first time entire rounds of Premier League matches would be shown live and football would go head-to-head with popular entertainment programmes on Saturday evenings.
Four full rounds of Premier League games will reportedly be up for grabs — three midweek rounds of fixtures and a programme on a public holiday.
The Telegraph said the league had issued the tender document for TV rights to fixtures for three seasons from 2019-20 and 200 of the league’s 380 matches would be available — 42 more than at present.
The commitment to not showing any live games between 2:45 pm and 5:15 pm on Saturdays continues, aimed at protecting attendances for lower-league football.
The past two sales of domestic rights have seen 70% increases in their value, taking the total to £5.1 billion for the current three-year deal, with Sky Sports showing the lion’s share of matches and BT Sport also broadcasting a chunk of games.
The auction, reportedly set for February, comes at a time of increasing speculation that the likes of Amazon and Facebook could make a serious foray into football broadcasting.
Amazon beat Sky in the race for ATP Tour tennis rights in Britain and has struck a deal for British rights to the US Open but indications are that the auction for Premier League rights may come too soon for the internet giants.
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He’s like a piece of Iron, In BOD we trust.
Good man Brian!
Brian O Driscoll is a legend. Irish Rugby wont be the same when he retires.
The best and most professional player ever to play in a green shirt. He is right too.
What an absolute legend this man is! Good on ya Drico, that you weren’t born in Limerick or Cork is all I ever disliked about ya!
Its a shame his success at international is been hindered by a poor coaching ticket.
A great player no doubt and a great ambassador for the game. is he past his prime, in my opinion yes. He is. Ronan, do you think that’s valid? would you rather not have an opinion and merely comment on the opinions of others. A whole…….
I agree he had a good game against Edinburgh. He may not have the pace of when he was younger – but his try against Treviso showed he reads a game like no one else. It has been a privilege to be able to watch him over the years.
Hope you help to deliver a third Heineken cup in a row in Landowne Road in May BOD!
He’s the Javier Zanetti of rugby!
Terrible against edinburgh. He knows well enough it’s over for him this season.thanks for the memories. Dignity is important.
The punishment that man’s body has taken is incredible. He’ll finish up in a wheelchair if he doesn’t give it up shortly.
U either didnt watch the game or ur clueless (or trolling).
Of course hes past his prime – but still has a lot to give. U said he was terrible against edinburgh. Which he clearly was not.
Yawn
Your obviously clueless or a Munster fan
He was about the only decent performer against Edinburgh. De Luca did nothing all game
The headline does not in any way reflect what O’Driscoll actually said, have just listened to the interview on Newstalk!
First few lines say that BOD has “given his strongest indications yet that he would love to stick around for another crack at World Cup success.”, but further down the man himself says: “We’ll deal with the November Series first and, hopefully if I’m still in the mix, the Six Nations next year. After that is still too far away to be considering.”
Any chance you could reconcile that a bit Patrick, because it’s fairly misleading I think?
he should do what the likes of d. o’callaghan and others do. retire. but keep playing for ireland
“Brian O’Driscoll rules out retirement and targets World Cup success.” What does success mean, daddy? Well, son, it means: 1. Qualifying. 2. Not losing to Georgia. 3. Beating England. 4. Going out at 1/4 final stage but taking heart from the fact that we have “learned a lot from this experience” and being on a “steep learning curve.” But does success not mean winning, daddy? Ah no, son. Only if you’re from New Zealand.