BBC Keep Premiership Rights

DMC

Phew!

http://media.guardian.co.uk/radio/story/0,12636,1231810,00.html

5pm

BBC wins Premier League radio rights

Owen Gibson, chief media reporter
Friday June 4, 2004


The BBC has won the rights to exclusive radio coverage of Premier League
football for the next three years, in the face of what the corporation
claims was "stiff competition".
Radio 5 has maintained its exclusive hold on national coverage of live
top-flight matches and, for the first time, will be able to stream the
commentaries live on the internet.

Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, Radio 5 has held the
exclusive rights in the face of vociferous protests, notably from
TalkSport's chief, Kelvin MacKenzie, that it was pricing commercial rivals
out of the bidding.

Alongside the undeniable contribution of Sky Sports, Radio 5's comprehensive
Premier League coverage and innovative football shows such as Six O Six and
Wright and Bright have been credited within the game for helping to build
the profile of the league.

The Premier League this year split the games into two packages of 125 and 97
matches respectively in an effort to encourage other bidders to compete with
the corporation.

The structure of the auction, and the importance of the rights to the BBC,
mean it is likely to have paid more than the £45m it shelled out for its
last three-year deal. However, BBC insiders insisted that the price was
"competitive".

"We are delighted to have secured the rights to Premiership commentary for
another three seasons on Radio Five Live. This is a hugely important
contract for Five Live and the BBC," said the station's controller, Bob
Shennan.

"We are immensely proud of the close and successful working relationship we
have established with the FA Premier League over more than a decade and look
forward to working closely again as we take our Premiership coverage
forward," he added.

The addition of internet rights will prove more significant as broadband,
already in more than 4 million homes, becomes more prevalent. Analysts
believe that with high-speed, always-on access, users will surf the web for
longer and online radio listening will rocket.

Listening figures are also sure to rise after local London stations
TalkSport and Capital Radio said earlier this year that they would not be
renewing their rights deals with specific clubs. Both said that they were
too expensive for the audiences they delivered.

Peter Salmon, the director of BBC Sport, said the contract win "completes
the best and biggest football portfolio the BBC has ever owned".

"Our new Premier League online service complements Five Live's acclaimed
coverage perfectly. From Match of the Day to Euro 2004, from the FA Cup to
all England's home matches, from the internet to the World Cup in 2006,
licence payers now have a truly comprehensive free-to-air football service
for the first time," he added.

The Premier League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, said that the
league was "extremely pleased to renew its association with BBC Radio Five
Live for a further three years".

"Since the Premier League's inception in 1992 live match commentary has
provided a valuable source of excitement for fans and an excellent platform
for the competition," he added.

The sale of the radio rights almost brings to a close the protracted Premier
League rights negotiations, with only a few overseas TV deals still to be
tied up.

In all, the Premier League, boosted by increased overseas revenues and Sky's
ability to hang on to the exclusive domestic live TV rights in the face of
pressure from Brussels, expects to slightly improve on the £1.6bn it raised
last time despite the global downturn in the sports rights market.

DMC

Internet rights too, Nice one!!

byte

Nice to see the Beeb keep the rights! I wonder about Radio rights in Ireland. Was Irish radio rights up for negotiation this year? Will Today FM keep the rights?