Premier League settle TV battle

The bitter four-year dispute between the Premier League and the European Commission over the sale of TV rights has finally been resolved.

The league had previously agreed to end BSkyB's monopoly on coverage of Premiership matches and have now convinced the EC the rights for the 2007-2010 seasons can be sold in a way which gives other broadcasters a fair crack of the whip.

The agreement removes the threat of legal action against the Premier League by the EC.

The 138 live matches will in future be sold in six packages each of 23 games and no single broadcaster will be allowed to buy more than five - meaning a maximum of 115 games.

Each package will be sold to the highest bidder and sweeteners such as the extra payment offered by BSkyB in the current TV deal for winning all the packages will not be allowed.

The Premier League have also promised the EC each package will be of the same quality in terms of the attractiveness of the matches.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, for whom the agreement represents something of a triumph, said: "This has been a long and often complicated negotiation.

"We are grateful to the commissioner and her officials for the efforts they made to reach a workable compromise.

"We are pleased this agreement addresses the commission's competition concerns, and paves the way for certainty surrounding how we sell our rights next time around."

Not all broadcasters are happy however - some had wanted BSkyB limited to a maximum of 50% of matches.

Cable TV firm NTL said in a statement: "It is unlikely that we will bid for the majority of the rights in the absence of a 50% maximum rule and equal quality of games between packages."

EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes welcomed the agreement.

She said: "The commitments offered by the Premier League should ensure the media rights are sold in a fair and transparent manner and give British football fans greater choice and better value."

The EC also say the agreement should increase the availability of Premier League coverage to be broadcast via mobile phones.

The key to solving the dispute was last month's face to face meeting between Scudamore and Kroes in Brussels where he was able to convince her the Premier League were trying to maximise competition - and therefore TV income - rather than keep BSkyB as the sole broadcasters.

The Government have also been discretely lobbying on behalf of the league, viewing a good TV deal as being beneficial for grass-roots payments through the money the league pays to the Football Foundation.