It follows an agreement reached between the Premier League and the European competition authorities, that will see live games shared between different broadcasters.
The decision to break up the exclusive deal with Sky will see live broadcasts split into six "balanced" packages, with no single broadcaster able to buy them all.
Neelie Kroes, the EU competition commissioner said: "The commitments offered by the Premier League should ensure that the media rights are sold in a fair and transparent manner and give British football fans greater choice and better value."
NTL, the cable company, said it had always lobbied for a 50:50 split of the rights. The broadcaster, which recently mergered with Telewest, said it would look at each rights package on its merits, but is not expected to challenge Sky for a significant proportion of the games.
Sky is currently paying £1.02billion over three years for all live Premier League games through 2007.
