Disney-owned ESPN will not get involved in a bidding war if Arab TV channel Al Jazeera takes on Satellite broadcaster BSkyB for exclusive live coverage of Barclays Premier League football.
The current three-season TV deal which saw Sky and ESPN pay a total of £1.78billion to screen 138 top-flight live games per year ends in May 2013
It is understood that senior figures within Al Jazeera, which is owned by the Qatari royal family, are contemplating a bid for the rights when they are put out to tender next year.
The move would be a serious blow to Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV service which is heavily dependent on the revenues it earns from the millions of subscribers who tune into its exclusive football coverage.
At present ESPN is a junior partner to Sky showing 23 matches, for which it is believed to have paid in the region of £160million.
And new head of ESPN for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Ross Hair told the London Evening Standard: 'We’re expecting another Premier League auction in April or May. An Al Jazeera bid is a realistic prospect.
They have done something very interesting in France in buying first division football against the incumbent satellite broadcaster Canal Plus and we’ve also looked at what they’ve done in other markets.
'You can draw parallels with the upcoming auction in the UK. Al Jazeera have the ambition to grow further in sport and into other markets.'
Sky and the American broadcaster ESPN currently share UK pay-for-view coverage following the £1.78 billion deal for the rights to cover matches between 2010 and 2013. Sky holds five of the six 23-game packages.
Qatar’s interest in football has mushroomed since last December when it won the right to stage the 2022 finals. Some purists were angered by the decision to award the event to a nation with so little interest in football. There were also claims that the country’s hot temperatures could even pose a health and safety risk to players.
But since then Qatar has become the shirt sponsors of Spain’s best club, Barcelona, and a Qatari investment firm has bought one of France’s most famous clubs, Paris St Germain.
Al Jazeera has already established itself as a major player in the market for televised sports.
In the summer it bought some of the domestic rights to screen matches from France's top division, Ligue 1.
The broadcaster also owns regional TV rights for the next three World Cups and to the Champions League, with the BBC’s Gary Lineker fronting their coverage.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2107652/Al-Jazeera-bid-Premier-League-TV-rights-realistic-prospect.html
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