Premier League comes under further fire for TV rights auction
The auction process used by the Premier League to sell TV rights to Sky and BT for a whopping £5.1bn came under criticism yesterday for the second time in a matter of days.
The deal was reached under a blind auction, with an unknown number of rounds and bidders.
Virgin Media chief executive Tom Mockridge criticised the process on Tuesday for inflating costs, which could eventually hit fans in the pocket. And yesterday, Toby Syfret, a media analyst at Enders Analysis, backed Mockridge’s claims: “I think Virgin Media’s complaint is well justified. The auction process adopted by the Premier League appears designed solely to maximise revenues without in any way taking into account the interests of fans”.
But Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore struck back, telling City PM that the method “has been endorsed by the European Commission and is compliant with competition law. It allows us to strike a balance between match attending fans and those who choose to watch on television.”