From The Guardian:
‘Broadcasters who win the rights to televise live Premier League football could be forced to sell some games to rivals under proposals drawn up by media regulator Ofcom.
The plans, if adopted by the European Commission, which is investigating the sale of Premiership TV rights, would end the 13-year monopoly of satellite group BSkyB.
The forthcoming auction of rights from the start of the 2007 season could see the most radical changes to domestic football coverage since the league's inception in 1992. An existing idea from the regulators could see individual broadcasters limited to 50% of the live games put up for sale, an idea that has been strongly resisted by the Premiership. The additional constraint means the winners of the rights to televise Premiership games 2007-2010 would have to sub-license the games on a "fair and non-discriminatory" basis. In practice, a broadcaster such as cable company Telewest would be able to approach a winner of the rights and demand what amounts to a secondary auction.
If adopted by the EC, the notion of exclusivity would be eradicated from Premier League coverage and other broadcasters (from free-to-air operations such as Freeview to platforms such as Home Choice) would be allowed to carry premium content - a key aim of the "Lisbon Agenda" set five years ago - if they are able to pay for them.
Officials are furious that the league has not addressed EC concerns about the way live TV rights are sold. They have also accused the league of "dragging their feet" with last week's letter missing a self-imposed deadline. "It's just another manifestation of them taking the piss," said one source close to the commission.
Several potential rivals to Sky have declared an interest in bidding for the rights, if the terms are right. These include cable companies NTL and Telewest and ITV, Channel 4, Five and Setanta and several private equity groups. Last week, Charles Allen, the chief executive of ITV, said eight games were not enough.’