Man Utd share holder looks to block BSkyB deal

net1

Dermot Desmond, the millionaire football investor, was on Wednesday night poised to launch legal action in an attempt to block the Premier League's E1.46bn rights deal with BSkyB. Desmond, who controls Celtic football club and owns a stake in Manchester United, will lodge a formal objection with the Office of Fair Trading and the European Commission in the next couple of days. He told the Financial Times the deal contravened European law because the Premier League had acted as a cartel. He is also concerned that the bidding process for the Premier League's rights was insufficiently competitive, with BSkyB apparently bidding unopposed. His concerns are shared by the commission, which continues to scrutinise the deal"The question is, how many bids did the Premier League receive for each of the packages? What was the competition for BSkyB? If there wasn't any then it was not a pure tender as the OFT and the Treaty of Rome regulations see it."

Under football rules in England and Scotland, clubs are not allowed to sell their rights individually and instead bundle rights with those of their rivals. Desmond's intervention comes as the Premier League is about to negotiate the sale of its overseas media rights.

"Football media deals are negotiated individually in Spain, Holland and Italy and it would be better for football if they were also negotiated individually in the UK," said Desmond.

jimbo

Yeah right! Then he could watch Man U playing Man U reserves on Man U TV. yaaawwwn

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Jimbo

rolfw

Hmm, I wonder how advantageous his plans would be for the smaller clubs?

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