Posted: 14th Aug, 2003 By: MarkJ
The EU has forced the Premier League to delay its decision on which company to award its multi-million-pound broadband rights to. Several major ISPs and portals, including AOL and NTL, poked competitive concerns at the offer:
They complained that the package is unfair because it only covers two-thirds of Premiership games and isn't exclusive, as any games shown as part of the package will already have been broadcast on TV.
Brussels is already looking at the TV deal, which was announced last Friday and saw Sky, as widely predicted, securing all live action for just over £1bn.
Regulators are insisting that the broadband and mobile rights deal needs to be fair, not anti-competitive.
NewMediaZero reports that, despite the delay, Sky is still a favourite to secure the rights.