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London (pte020/08.04.2005/12:30) - ITV and Sky are tipped to retain their shared live coverage of Champions League football matches, as bidding for UK TV rights for the next three years starting today. As the Media Guardian http://www.mediaguardian.co.uk reports, the BBC is also believed to be considering a bid and Channel 4 is understood to have met with representatives of Champions League rights' holder UEFA, but is not expected to submit a formal bid today. However, the BBC faces an added complication in satisfying UEFA that it could reconcile its own rules banning sponsorship with the Champions League's demands for on-screen promotion.
As the Media Guardian reports, the BBC would have to submit a higher bid to compensate UEFA for any loss of sponsorship money, and TV industry insiders believe this would be difficult for the corporation to justify in the current round of cost-cutting in the run-up to charter renewal. Las time, the BBC is reported to have offered around 10 million more pounds than ITV or BSkyB in its unsuccessful Champion League bid.
Three packages of live games are on offer in the new deal, which will run from 2006 to 2009. One package offers the pick of matches played on a Tuesday, another offering first pick of Wednesday games, and a third offering the remainder of the games not chosen by the main broadcasters. BSkyB broke ITV's previous monopoly of live Champions League coverage when the last rights deal was concluded in 2002. This time, another deal sharing out the rights between the two broadcasters is regarded as the most likely outcome. However, industry insiders do not rule out BSkyB tabling a knockout bid for all Champions League rights, saying it would then be up to UEFA to decide whether it wanted to accept an exclusive deal with the pay-TV broadcaster, or maintain the current two-way split for UK TV rights.
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