Under the deal, BSkyB has five of the six live rights packages available – the maximum it can acquire under the bidding guidelines – while Setanta has the remaining package.
After the deals were announced, ESPN confirmed it had bid for live rights. It had been widely anticipated to challenge Setanta for live rights.
The agreement allows BSkyB to show 115 matches each season, up from 96 under the present deal. It will pay £1.623 billion over the three years, up from £1.314 billion. The five packages include 38 first-choice matches as well as the large majority of second-choice matches.
Setanta has been awarded one package of 23 matches per season, including eight second-choice matches and 15 fourth-choice matches, which will be shown on Saturdays at 5.15pm. It is paying £159 million, a big drop from the £392 million it pays currently. Setanta shows 46 matches under the present deal which expires at the end of the 2009-10 season.
Overall, the Premier League will bring in £1.782 billion for live rights over the three-year period, 2010-11 to 2012-13, a 4.5-per-cent increase on the present three-year deals, a good result for the league considering most observers had considered that the league would do well to bring in the same amount.