Sky chasing huge Premier League package to force out rivals in fresh TV auction
Sky Sports will push to screen more than 200 live Premier League games as the bidding gets underway for the latest domestic TV rights auction.
The broadcaster has been a powerhouse ever since providing the media backing for the league's inception in 1992. Thanks to the Premier League's success, Sky has become the dominant player in the market in the years since.
It appeared at risk of facing a challenge from BT Sport when that launched in 2013, though it has since been bought by Discovery and rebranded as TNT Sports. The last rights deal for the three-year period between 2022 and 2025 brought in more than £5billion for the domestic rights.
And league bosses are planning to make even more games available for coverage as they seek to secure another bumper fee. According to the Daily Mail, Sky are set to bid on four of the five packages available.
That would give them more than 200 live games a season for the period between 2025 and 2029, which will be covered by the next contract. TNT Sports are prioritising retaining the Saturday lunchtime slot.
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That comes as it is claimed doubts are increasing on whether the rebranded broadcaster can beat Sky to one of the other packages. Sky are hoping to keep hold of the Saturday evening games, two slots on Sundays and the combined Friday night/Monday night matches.
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Sky Sports will attempt to reinforce their position as the Premier League's dominant broadcaster (Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images)Amazon Prime, meanwhile, are hoping to add to their stable of games by taking control of the new-look 2pm Sunday slot, which could have multiple games being screened simultaneously due to European fixtures.
They face a tough battle though, as Sky are said to value having exclusivity over the Sunday games and will fight hard to retain that honour. League bosses are hoping to secure an increase on the current £5bn deal, with the auction set to close at the end of next month.
No bidder will be allowed to take on all five packages, which have seen changes since the last auction. There has been a growing clamour for all games held on Sundays to be made available for broadcast.
Previously, only matches originally scheduled for those days were allowed to be shown on TV. That meant fixtures involving any teams involved in the Europa League or Europa Conference League, which had to be shifted from Saturdays, were not shown on TV in the UK.
But increasing pressure has been placed on league bosses over the course of recent seasons, as fans were forced to turn to illegal streaming websites to watch their team if they could not make it to the stadiums.
The Premier League has relented on its current stance for the next period of domestic rights, with the new stance announced last month. The 3pm blackout will remain in place though, to protect attendances further down the pyramid.
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