Terrestrial duo consider Premiership bids

The BBC and ITV were today weighing up potential bids to attract live Barclaycard Premiership football on to terrestrial television after the Premier League agreed a compromise deal with the European Commission.

The Premier League had come under considerable pressure from the European Commission, which argued that the £1bn (€1.42bn) live rights deal with BSkyB breached their monopoly laws.

The worst-case scenario was a potential legal challenge which could have caused the lucrative deal to collapse and may even have ended the collective bargaining stance which is of such financial importance to smaller top-flight clubs.

However, the 20 Premier League chairmen yesterday agreed a compromise solution put to them by chief executive Richard Scudamore following a round of meetings in Brussels.

This allows for eight live games to be shown on a terrestrial television channel – such as the BBC or ITV – from next season, when the new three-year deal comes into force.

EC spokeswoman Amelia Torres told BBC Radio Five Live: “These will be top-end Premiership games. I cannot go into the details for the time being, but we are talking about high-quality matches.”