Premier League renews £4.8bn TV deal with extra £100m trickle-down funds

The Premier League’s move away from an open auction comes as the League has seen a drop in the value of its rights.

THAT'S RICH: Arsenal's Nicolas Pepe celebrates after scoring against West Brom. The Premier  League has renewed a £4.8bn TV rights deal with its existing partners Sky, BT and Amazon.

FOOTBALL's Premier League has announced it has renewed a £4.8bn TV rights deal with its existing partners Sky, BT and Amazon, avoiding an auction that could have led to hundreds of millions being wiped off the value of the next deal.

The league has been in talks for months with its existing UK broadcast partners and the government, which has the power to block direct deals on competition grounds, as the cooling market for sports rights left it facing a £500m-plus drop in the value of the next deal if it went to auction.