Breaking news: Sky Sports has won the bidding for the majority TV rights to the Premier League for seasons 2013-16 on UK television.
During a Premier League press conference today, the league announced that Sky Sports won the majority of the TV rights. Sky Sports will show 116 matches per season. BT will show 38 games, while ESPN UK and Al Jazeera will show none.
Incredibly, the amount of money that the Premier League will receive for TV rights to 2012-13 will be £3 billion — an increase of £1.2 billion from the last UK rights deal. That’s an increase of 82%.
The Sunday 4pm BST timeslot has traditionally been saved for the best game of the week, usually featuring one of the top six teams in the Premier League. The TV rights to the Premier League on UK TV were split in several different packages for interested parties to bid on.
Sky Sports has been broadcasting the Premier League to UK TV viewing audiences since the launch of the league in 1992. In its first contract with the Premier League, Sky paid £304 million for the TV rights over five seasons.
ESPN UK has been providing coverage of the Premier League since 2009. The American broadcaster has TV rights to show 23 matches through the end of the 2012-13 season.
Bidding for the TV rights to the Premier League on US television for seasons 2013-2016 will conclude later this summer or early fall.
