Record £3bn TV Deal For Premier League

The Premier League has secured a record £3 billion TV deal after BT was the surprise winner of a large number of televised football rights.

The new three-year deal represents a 71% increase in income for Premier League teams.

This equates to at least £14m more per year for each football club, with the bottom team in the league from 2013/14 onwards likely to receive more than the £60.6m Manchester City earned this year for ending the season as champions. Each individual televised match will now cost the broadcasters £6.6m, up from £4.7m under the previous deal.

BSkyB, which has built its business over 20 years on the back of live top flight football, retained most of the rights, securing 116 matches per season from 2013-14 in exchange for £2.3bn over three years.

But BT sprung a huge surprise by winning the rights to 38 games, including almost half the "first pick" games on offer, in exchange for £738m over three years. Richard Scudamore, Premier League chief executive, said BT's securing 18 of the 38 coveted "first pick" matches would be a "game changer". "[BT chief executive] Ian Livingstone and his colleagues have hugely ambitious plans. They have not invested in all this fibre [optic cable] for nothing, they want to establish a direct relationship with consumers," he said.

BT – the latest challenger to Sky after Setanta and ESPN – is expected to launch a new sports channel, available on a variety of platforms. But BT will use the rights to push its high speed broadband service. Its matches will be shown at Saturday lunchtime and on midweek evenings.

Against a grim economic backdrop elsewhere, Scudamore admitted he was "surprised" by the huge hike in income, which he said would allow clubs to continue to compete with their European rivals.

(H)