Sky plan to battle it out with all the other broadcasters tomorrow when the rights to air Premier League matches takes place with experts predicting that it could sell for as much as £4 billion, and billion more that the current £3 billion deal.
Insiders at Sky however are saying that the company is not as reliant on football as it once was, and they were not prepared to break the bank in order to get the rights to Premier League matches.
Sky boss Jeremy Darroch said yesterday: “We like the Premier League. But the whole point of the business is about broadening the offer.”
“That means a wider range of sports, including snatching golf’s Open Championships from the BBC, plus more of its own entertainment programmes.”
The British Open will be on Sky Sports from 2017 after a five-year-deal was agreed earlier in the week with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.
Many of the world’s top golfers are a little dismayed that the Open will be shown for the last time on terrestrial TV this July with current world number one Rory McIlroy saying: “I guess it’s just the way it’s going. Money talks, you know. It’s a shame The Open is not going to be on terrestrial television.
“Sky is expensive and a lot of people can’t afford it. It would have been nice if they could have come to some sort of resolution.”
