Desmond to challenge legality of BSkyB deal

BUSINESSMAN Dermot Desmond is to launch a legal challenge to the £1 billion TV deal for the right to broadcast English premiership football games.

Mr Desmond is reported to be mounting a court case against last Friday’s record deal which saw the English Premier League award the rights to all of this season’s matches to BSkyB.

His threat to derail the money-spinning deal will be pursued through the British and European courts under anti-competition legislation, according to a newspaper report yesterday.

The multi-millionaire is a major shareholder in Celtic and also has a large stake in Manchester United.

He has frequently criticised the exclusion of the landmark Old Firm games which pitch rival Scottish clubs ?Celtic and Rangers against each other, from the English Premier League.

“I would like to look at the detail of the Sky/Premier League deal,” Mr Desmond said.

“But I do not think they will meet the competition rules as set out in the Treaty of Rome and British law. Certain criteria must be met and our legal teams are looking at it now,” he said.

Mr Desmond’s gripe lies with the collective bargaining power of the English league’s smaller clubs in negotiating lucrative TV rights.

“The premier league clubs, the smaller ones that is, issued a mandate to the executive that they don’t want Celtic and Rangers in because they might undermine their position in the league,” he said on BBC Radio last week.

“So the premier league executive are under guidance from those majority of clubs.

“I don’t think that is competition and I don’t think it’s in the interest of football. It’s illegal, it’s wrong and it’s not in the interest of clubs,” he continued.

Friday’s £1.024bn deal allots the rights to league games for three years from the start of the 2004/2005 season.

In a break from previous years, the Premier League did not bundle the Irish television rights in with the British, setting the stage for a battle between RTÉ and TV3.

But the two Irish broadcasters face stiff competition from the deep pockets of BSkyB which is understood to have already lodged a separate bid to show the games in Ireland.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore confirmed on Friday that further arrangements still had to be concluded for 12 smaller television packages, including rights for the Republic of Ireland, overseas, and radio.

Irish stations showing big-name Saturday games will also be able to circumvent the restriction on British broadcasters that prevents them from showing 3pm kick-offs live in order to shore up existing support for the smaller clubs.

In Britain, a further upset has been dealt by the BBC securing the right to show the highlights programme, usurping ITV which had held the show for three years.

This will mean the return of the Match of the Day to the BBC screens at a cost of £105 million over the next three seasons.