BBC and Sky sign £300m football deal

net1

FA deal: England matches would all be shown on BBC

The BBC and BSkyB have finally reached agreement with the Football Association over a new four-year rights deal for international games and the FA Cup, with the corporation hailing it as "a great deal for the licence payer".
The new deal, believed to be worth around £300m over four years, will see all England's home games broadcast live on BBC1, as well as showing three live FA Cup games per round and having first choice of replayed games.

While the cash-strapped FA have now guaranteed income for the next four years, in year for year terms, the deal is worth £120m less than the existing contract.

BSkyB will show highlights and delayed coverage of England games and one live FA Cup match per round, as part of its policy of cutting back on so-called "secondary rights".

"This is one of the most significant contracts in the sports rights industry," said the BBC's director of sports rights and finance Dominic Coles, adding that it represented "great value for money".

The Football Association was keen to tie the broadcasters to a four-year contract, as opposed to the last three-year deal, to compensate for the falling value of the rights.

"It's a mutually beneficial arrangement," said Mr Coles, but refused to comment on how much the BBC had paid. Sources close to the negotiations suggest that the BBC will pay for the majority of the £300m deal.

The existing deal, which runs to the end of next season, is worth £345m over three years, with the new agreement representing a cut of around £40m per season for the football body.

Led by new chief executive Mark Palios and head of sales and marketing, Paul Barber, the FA was keen to bring in as much upfront money as possible to allay its financial concerns.

It is already facing a cash shortfall and recently had to lay off a fifth of its staff, as well as cancelling a bond arranged through US finance house Bear Stearns.

The FA has also been stretched financially by its £400m commitment to the new Wembley Stadium and a £50m commitment to the National Football Centre at Burton-on-Trent.

"The deal is an important step in the process of providing financial stability to The FA. It also enables much greater access to top quality football for an even larger number of people," said Mr Palios.

The deal will include the remaining home qualifying games for the 2004 European Championships, the qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup and all friendlies.

The BBC said the FA had recognised the increased profile that free-to-air broadcasters can bring to a sport, particularly during big international matches.

"Those big England moments are the most valuable sports rights in the country. Only state funerals can compete with those kind of ratings," said Mr Coles.

The BBC had up to 12.7 million viewers for its recent coverage of the European Championships qualifier against Turkey, and believes that England games are exactly the sort of sports property that both fulfil its public service obligations and attract big ratings.

Mr Coles said the BBC would also look to build on improved ratings for the FA Cup last season. The corporation has been continually thwarted in its attempts to show the best games of the round in prime time, causing chairman Gavyn Davies to slam the competition as "second rate".

But Mr Coles said the combination of having first, third and fourth choice picks of the ties of the round, combined with the fact that the BBC had been promised "a lot more flexibility around scheduling with new slots available for big games", would help boost ratings.

"Our production teams and talent have also worked hard over the last two years to bring back the magic of the FA Cup, and we look forward to building on our successes over the next four years," said the BBC's head of sport, Peter Salmon.