BSkyB to keep Premier League

Despite the threat from ESPN across the Atlantic, BSkyB has retained its share of the Premier Leagues live football matches for another three years, at an estimated cost of £1.3 billion, taking its contract up to 2013.

It has been announced by the Premier League that Sky Sports has been awarded four out of the six packages available, the same level that the channel has had since 2006.

The other two packages will go through to the second stage of the auction and are likely to be contested by the American sports giant ESPN and the Irish based sports channel Setanta.

Setanta already holds the rights to the two packages, but whether they will win them next time is anyone’s guess.