The next deal for live television rights for the English Premier League could be pan-European rather than domestic, chief executive Richard Scudamore said on Tuesday. For 20 years lucrative British deals with BSkyB's Sky Sports have helped the league become the most successful in world football and in 2009 the satellite broadcaster paid 1.6 billion pounds ($953.55 million) for the 2010-13 contract.
ESPN can also screen around 23 league games - a package previously owned by Irish broadcaster Setanta. The last UK rights deal involved six packages of 23 matches with no one broadcaster being able to bid for all of them. Sky has always been the most attractive partner for the Premier League, providing heaps of cash and award-winning coverage, but Scudamore hinted the next deal could bundle UK and continental European rights. Qatar-based Al Jazeera has been tipped as a potential new entrant into the market after it began broadcasting French soccer.
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