[RMCF]

I see Sky won the rights for all but one of the EPL TV deals, paying something like £1.7bn in the process.

This was an increase of 5% on what they last paid.

I really thought in these tough times that Sky would have made an attempt to bid a lot less, which may in turn have helped curtain the madness around the money and wages in the EPL.

But alas. We will continue to see the footballing world leave the ordinary supporter behind, and the wages and transfer fees continue rising.

[lostinspace]

Originally Posted by RMCF

I really thought in these tough times that Sky would have made an attempt to bid a lot less

Seems to me they can't afford to take the risk.
As someone who will never take sky, all their new business effort is based around sport. So if they risked losing any of it, their whole existence is risked.

On a different point, why is the MMC not investigating this? Any company holding this much of their market surely is in breach of anti monopoly legislation (I thought it was about 40%).

[Iaind]

Sports coverage in this country is dire if you don't have Sky Sports and rely on Freeview.

The BBC seem to run scared of any commitment to showing football at all - it always make ne smile when BBC Scotland proudly claim 'every game, every shot, every goal' - on the radio. Big deal. Amazingly, the gaelic channel BBC Alba has more full games than BBC Scotland - one a week at the moment.

At least the BBC seem to have retained the 6 nations and rewon F1 - apart from that it is Darts, Snooker and Racing.

Bring back Grandstand and World of Sport - especially the wrestling at 4pm - that was great!

Iain

[Steven]

Sky get their money from advertising and subscriptions

BBC get their money from me and you. There is only so much they can put into live sport and Premiership football commands the top fees. Three of the four tennis Grand Slams, The Masters and The Open, F1, Grand National, Olympics, Athletics, Six Nations, the inferior Darts, Snooker, the Super Bowl and MotoGP. Great mix there

How much of that list would disappear you think if the BBC competed for packages of Premiership coverage? Bearing in mind that in a recession and unprecedented economic times the Premier League improved on the record £1.7 billion deal and topped it up by another 5%

And most matches are boring anyway. I say that as a Liverpool fan first, a neutral a close second. I can just about put up with the five minutes MOTD dedicate to the more boring matches - which start from say game 4 in the MOTD line-up. I would join the picket lines if the BBC ever paid for live rights for that kind of entertainment

[RMCF]

Thing is, I think that Sky have taken a big gamble on the football deal.

If the people I chat to are any guide to the general feeling out there, many are getting disillusioned with the EPL and are hardly watching any games these days (well compared to the appast when nearly every game was watched).

Now if this trend continues, and coupled with the recession for 2 years, then Sky may find a lot of people cancelling their subscription. If the numbers were big enough then this deal they have just struck might be too much for them. Thats why I thought they might have went with a lower bid to try to save some money in case the worst happened and they had cancelled contracts.

I like my La Liga and CL coverage too much to cancel, but I know many who are saying that MOTD will do them for their EPL fix, and that they might cancel their Sky Sports for this, heading to the pub for any of the hyped up Sky 'Super Sundays'. If enough people get this idea, Sky might suffer.

[Silver Arrow]

Originally Posted by RMCF

Thing is, I think that Sky have taken a big gamble on the football deal.

If the people I chat to are any guide to the general feeling out there, many are getting disillusioned with the EPL and are hardly watching any games these days (well compared to the appast when nearly every game was watched).

Now if this trend continues, and coupled with the recession for 2 years, then Sky may find a lot of people cancelling their subscription. If the numbers were big enough then this deal they have just struck might be too much for them. Thats why I thought they might have went with a lower bid to try to save some money in case the worst happened and they had cancelled contracts.

I like my La Liga and CL coverage too much to cancel, but I know many who are saying that MOTD will do them for their EPL fix, and that they might cancel their Sky Sports for this, heading to the pub for any of the hyped up Sky 'Super Sundays'. If enough people get this idea, Sky might suffer.

We cancelled our sports package recently, just because I was sitting there watching rubbish just because I had paid for it.

Andy

[kopchoir]

I would rather pay my sky bill than my mortgage last year though my sky bill was around £100 a month
Plus champions league,la liga,
I have sky for the sport and thats it i dont have the movies

[McFaber]

Bring back Premiership Plus....

[Miyazaki]

When you look at that amount of money it can't be of any surprise that English teams are dominating the Champions league over the last few years.