Louise Posted 12 October 2005 Share Posted 12 October 2005 ITV (with NTL) are planning to bid for the rights to 50% of the Premier League matches (starting 2007). While I think competiton is always good, especailly if it forces the prices down for the customer if this happens it sounds like it'll all become a bit complicated. At the moment if you want to see all the Premier League matches that are on TV you pay for Sky Sports and Prem Plus. If this happens you might have to pay for those two plus at least one more channel. Even allowing for competative prices it doesn't sound very good. And with probably more games on TV I can't see any 3pm Saturday kick-offs in the Prem anymore. Of course for those of us who only care about watching Leicester on TV, it might mean that Sky decide to show more Championship games in the future. But how long will we be in the Championship for? It's likely to affect us at some point. Not to mention the fact that it'll probably mean Prem clubs getting even more money than they do now. And lets not mention the whole ITV Digital mess... Rival soccer rights bid 'planned' Broadcaster ITV and cable company NTL have teamed up to bid for the rights to half the live Premier League matches, according to reports. The two firms are willing to bid at least £170m ($298m) a year in the next auction - for the 2007 to 2010 seasons - the Guardian and Reuters reported. European regulators are said to be keen to break BSkyB's exclusive grip on matches, which pays out £340m a year. Last week, NTL agreed to buy fellow cable firm Telewest. The Guardian said it had seen a letter outlining the groups' alliance which has been sent to the Premier League's 20 constituent clubs. The European Commission is pushing for a provision that would block any one broadcaster from having more than 50% of the rights. Brussels takes stand However, this has met with fierce opposition from the Premier League which says the Commission's proposal is an unwarranted intervention in the marketplace. In 2003, BSkyB managed to buy the all Premiership packages on offer in a £1bn deal. The broadcaster has won every auction of live Premiership coverage since the league was launched. ITV and NTL reportedly plan to show most matches on a pay-TV channel, with the rest broadcast on one of ITV's free-to-air channels. The Guardian reported that Charles Allen, chief executive of ITV, and Simon Duffy, chief executive of NTL, said that their proposals would not destroy the value of the TV franchise that has poured billions into Premier League football. "We think this is a fantastic opportunity for the Premier League and its clubs and we are very keen to engage further with the FA Premier League to take this forward," the letter said. ITV was unavailable for comment but NTL confirmed to the BBC that a letter had been sent to the Premier League. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4334784.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Libertine Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 Noooo, just leave it as it is, Sky are doing a good enough job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted 13 October 2005 Author Share Posted 13 October 2005 Noooo, just leave it as it is, Sky are doing a good enough job. Phew, I thought no-one was going to reply to this post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenchy_lcfc Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 Noooo, just leave it as it is, Sky are doing a good enough job. Yeah they Should just leave it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filbertway Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 Its good news for those of us with just 5 channels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobbo Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 Its good news for those of us with just 5 channels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted 13 October 2005 Author Share Posted 13 October 2005 Its good news for those of us with just 5 channels Most of the games are going to be on pay channels though. Only a few games will be on terrestrial tv per season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobbo Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 Most of the games are going to be on pay channels though. Only a few games will be on terrestrial tv per season. More than at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davieG Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 As stated previously, although done in the so called interest of the consumer I can see it being a repeat of the directory enquiries fiasco, where we now end up payying more because the choice is so complex. Not that it will affect LCFC fans at present as I'm sure ITV/NTL will only be interested in the Premier. 2 things you can guarantee though is that it wont be free on ITV/NTL, no surprise there but if you want to see all your teams games on the box you will end up having to subscribe to both options ITV/NTL & Sky and anyone else who joins in the bidding. This will guarantee it ends up being dearer than just having SKY. So much for choice and competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davieG Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 More than at the moment I'd be amazed if there were any free games on terresstrial with the price they will have to pay to get them, you might also ask the question why have ITV linked up with NTL, I would wager it's so they can charge for the games, not sure how that would happen technically but again I'd be amazed if they haven't got some scheme worked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Kyle lcfc Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 Easy option is if there's any games on you want to watch that would cost you get down the pub watch the game and spend the money on getting pissed up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davieG Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 Easy option is if there's any games on you want to watch that would cost you get down the pub watch the game and spend the money on getting pissed up Of course you are assuming that all the pubs will pay both the ITV/NTL & Sky licence fee, some smaller local pubs probably wont be able to afford both. You'll be running around the city to find which pub is showing a particular game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenchy_lcfc Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 More than at the moment I hope SO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 wont Premiership attendences fall even more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_lcfc Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 Noooo, just leave it as it is, Sky are doing a good enough job. agreed leave it to sky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Kyle lcfc Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 well i know my local will show all games especially if i request them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted 13 October 2005 Author Share Posted 13 October 2005 And thinking about it, could it be the end of Match Of The Day? Not for internationals of course and FA cup matches but otherwise I doubt ITV would sell highlights of Prem games to the BBC when they could easily run a highlights program of their own every year. Gary could be almost out of a job Or the BBC could decide to go for the Championship highlights and Gary could talk about us.... although somehow I doubt that would get the same amount of ratings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gist Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 Its good news for those of us with just 5 channels yeh it is although would affect attendences even more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hitesh Posted 13 October 2005 Share Posted 13 October 2005 I hope more games are on terrestrial but i hope ITV dont get it! The Premiership was crap, and i hated the adverts!! MOTD is the best highlights show and if they could add a few live games now and then it would be perfect! However, the FA/Football Legue/Premiership should be careful about which bid they accept as they dont want to stop people actually going to the games! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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