Premier League faces calls to sell more live pay TV rights
The Premier League is facing up to the prospect of being forced to sell pay TV rights to more live football matches following concerns that fans are being forced to cough up over the odds to watch their teams in action.
In a bid to foster greater competition Ofcom is investigating means of forcing the organisation to sell the rights to more games on television and allow more than one broadcaster to screen each match.
The Premier League currently employs an auction system to sell the right to screen matches, resulting in escalating costs for broadcasters who have in turn passed on the costs to viewers.
In the most recent auction, which took place in 2012, the Premier League sold the rights to 41 per cent of matches to BT and Sky for £3bn – a 70 per cent increase on the previous auction.
Analysts predict that if the present system remains in use an auction planned for next year could rake in as much as £5bn.