February 5 – The English Premier League’s sale of television rights for 2016-19 will go ahead as planned after UK broadcasting watchdog Ofcom rejected complaints from cable operator Virgin Media.
The Premier League sent out its invitation to tender (ITT) in December and Ofcom turned down an application by Virgin to halt the sale which is expected to generate another eye-watering windfall.
A statement from Ofcom said: “Ofcom has today decided to reject the application, as it does not consider that there is an urgent need to intervene to delay the auction. There will be a significant gap, of around 17 months, between the auction and the start of the 2016/2017 season when broadcasting of the relevant matches will commence.”
“In the event that Ofcom’s investigation concludes that there is an infringement, Ofcom has the necessary powers to require the Premier League and Premier League clubs to make changes to arrangements for the broadcasting of matches within the time available before the start of the relevant season.
“The investigation is ongoing and will consider the potential harm to competition and consumers arising from joint selling under the auction.”
Virgin says domestic consumers are paying too much to watch matches on TV. The current three-year deal with Sky and BT Sport is worth just over £3b to Premier League clubs.
Virgin Media wants the rights for some games to be sold on a non-exclusive basis so matches are shown by more than one broadcaster. The cable operator is not itself bidding in the auction but does pay wholesale fees for Sky Sports and BT Sport.