Premiership Considers Premier League TV

On Monday, the Premier League formally send out invitations to the UK networks interested in bidding on the next round of TV rights for the league, for the 2010-2011 to 2012-2013 seasons. If you’ve been reading EPL Talk for a while, you won’t be surprised to read that the invitations were sent to ESPN, Setanta Sports, Sky Sports, BBC, ITV and others.

While the news is very UK centric, the implication of the final decision of who will win the TV package rights will have a massive ripple effect around the world.

Read all of the details in these excellent articles:

• “The Premier League: TV Gold, Even In A Recession” (The Independent)
• “Premier League Welcome ESPN Interest in TV Rights” (The Telegraph)
• “We’ll Buck Recession On TV Deals” (The Guardian)

Without a doubt, the most revealing article is the one in The Independent entitled “Premier League Planning TV Channel To Beat The Recession.” The article mentions how the Premier League are considering launching their own TV channel if the bids for the TV rights aren’t as high as they would like. The chances of this happening are extremely slim.

But, for those American readers, my question to you is how NFL TV compares to the Premier League TV (PLTV) idea mentioned in The Independent article. Do you feel the Premier League are copying NFL’s idea, or is it a different arrangement?

The concept of PLTV may work well in the United Kingdom, but PLTV in the United States may suffer the same challenges that Setanta Sports has — getting on the major cable companies.