Just hours after the first submissions were put forward, Sky – who will see its current monopoly on rights ended under the direction of the EU – secured three of the six soccer packages up for grabs.
A Premier League statement said simply: “Following the submission of bids by interested parties, the FA Premier League is in a position to announce that it has awarded three out of the six packages of live television rights to BSkyB.
“We will be proceeding to a second round of bidding for the remaining three packages in due course.
“There will be no further comment on this from the Premier League until the conclusion of the second round of bidding. Bidders are also bound by similar confidentiality.”
The six packages – each of 23 games – must not be awarded all to Sky to satisfy European law-makers, but observers suspect they will still pick up five of the six available. The new packages come into play for the 2007/08 season.
Irish pay-platform Setanta and cable firm NTL are believed to be the two biggest rivals for the remaining three packages.
