Sky and ESPN linked to joint SPL rights bid- 3 Jul 2009 00:00:00
The Scottish Premier League is reportedly reviewing a joint bid from pay-TV broadcasters Sky and ESPN to take up the live rights contract returned to the league following the demise of previous TV partner Setanta.
The SPL, which was left with a substantial financial deficit after Setanta fell into administration, has been in talks with both broadcasters about taking up the rights which cover 60 live games a season.
The combined deal is believed to be a five-year contract which, although would not come close to matching the value of a new contract with Setanta, will be worth £100m to the SPL.
Setanta was scheduled to pay the SPL £31m per season for the renewal of its four-year contract from 2011.
However the new deal would give the league more than the £12m a year value of its existing contract with Setanta which was scheduled to run for two more seasons.
The main complexities of the discussions relate to which broadcaster showed more games and which supplied the majority of the funding with Sky apparently unwilling to take on too many SPL games due to scheduling issues given the large amount of live English Premier League matches it is already committed to screening.
No comment has been made by either broadcaster on the issue, with the SPL only admitting that ‘external discussions are ongoing’.
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