EC 'not satisfied' with PL TV deal

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The European Commission said it is "not satisfied" about the way in which the FA Premier League (FAPL) is sharing out television broadcasting rights for top flight English football matches and confirmed it is opening a formal antitrust inquiry into the case.

The commission said that EU regulators are preparing to send a 'statement of objections' detailing competition concerns in the next few weeks. This follows much press speculation about the European Commission’s position over the last few weeks and the apparent public silence of DGIV, the Competition Directorate, on the recent deals in France between Canal for the Ligue 1 rights and in Germany where Premiere has won the exclusive rights to all UEFA CL matches.

Jonathan Todd, spokesman for EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes, told press over the timing of the charges: “Yes, I can confirm this. We are looking at the arrangements for 2007 onwards. We had a provisional arrangement in September 2003. We are not satisfied with the way in which [the Premier League] implemented this undertaking. There was an agreement that there would no longer be a single buyer. Yet there is a single buyer. We are paying attention to the way in which the rights are sold”.

Two years ago, the commission agreed with the FAPL to open up Sky’s exclusivity the broadcasting matches from English football's top division by offering six to eight matches a season for tender to other broadcasters until the end of 2006. The tender stalled, however, with none of the bids reaching the reserved price, thus allowing Sky to reject all the offers on the table. Nevertheless, the commission said it agreed with the FAPL that after 2006 the tendering procedures for television rights will ensure that there are at least two television broadcasters of live Premier League matches.

The FAPL informed that the football body is 'committed' to that clause; thus dividing up the rights for more than one broadcaster from 2007. The PAPL was in discussions with the commission over the rights and had presented a proposal to the EU to resolve the issue. The latest move from the commission shows its intent the revamp the television packages for the matches and open out the broadcasting rights to greater competition from 2007. In the event of non-compliance, formal competition charges can eventually lead to antitrust fines.

ITV, the BBC, British Telecom and Irish pay-TV operator Setanta, may benefit from an opening up of the market. Whether or not the FAPL itself will benefit from a potential loss of income arising from a loss of exclusivity does not seem to be an issue for the Commission nor does it concern itself will the real competitive issue in football: the competitive imbalance arising from an unequal distribution of resources across clubs.

Ofcom, the UK government regulatory broadcasting body is encouraging more competition for Sky in the contest for Premier League rights. Ofcom also believes that competition would be good for viewers and that there should be a number of service providers. Ofcom cooperates with the Commission in developing the strategy towards the new television deal. According to media reports, the Commission, following advice from Ofcom, wants the next deal to show around 140 Premier League games on television split roughly 50:50 between two channels, one of which could be Sky.