The Office of Fair Trading is mounting a legal challege to the premier league's practice of selling rights collectively. It argues that the 20-team league is acting as a cartel, pushing up prices and restricting viewer choice.
The case, being heard before Britain's Restrictive Practices Court, could result in clubs negotiating their own individual television deals. The premier league says this would undermine the league's structure and benefit only the top clubs.
Charles Aldous, counsel for the premier league, noted many premier league clubs were loss-making and a number could not survive without revenues from the lucrative television deals with pay TV company BSkyB and the BBC.
He said an end to the current system of selling rights "may be fine for one or two clubs but would be divisive and spell disaster for lesser clubs".
He argued it would increase the prospects of a break-up of the league and advance moves towards a European super league, saying this was not in the interests of the game overall.
Under the existing television deal, BSkyB transmits 60 live premier league matches per season while the BBC puts out a weekly highlights package in its Match of the Day programme.
The current five-year contract runs until 2001 and is worth 743 million pounds ($1.21 billion) to the premier league, BSkyB contributing 670 million pounds and the BBC the rest.
The value of soccer rights to television companies was underlined last year when BSkyB, controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, tabled a 623 million pound bid for Manchester United Plc, the best supported club in the country.
The bid is currently on hold pending an investigation by Britain's competition authorities. A bid by cable TV company NTL Inc for Newcastle United Plc is expected to follow if the BSkyB/Man Utd deal is cleared.
Aldous said that more clubs would be swallowed up by media companies if collective selling was scrapped, leading to a league run for the benefit of major broadcasters.
The premier league also believes that moves to allow more than 60 games to be shown live each season would lead to unhealthy saturation coverage. There are 380 premier league matches per season.
"There is a real risk that TV will become saturated with football until people become bored," Aldous said.
The case, before a three-man panel comprised of a High Court judge and two lay members, is expected to last anything between 12 and 20 weeks. ($1=.6129 Pound).
Reuters
