BSkyB leads FTSE lower after football deal Shares in London were led lower on Thursday by BSkyB after the satellite TV company suffered a series of downgrades following the results of the broadcast rights for the next Premiership footlball season. BSkyB won the rights to show 116 English Premier League matches per year over the three seasons starting with the 2013-14 fixtures. Fierce competition from BT Group, however, saw the telecoms and broadcasting group win a deal for 38 games per season. The costs rose by more than expected, however, with BSkyB paying an added £760m a year. Analysts had expected, on average, a rise of £620m. Deutsche Bank lowered its target price on BSkyB to 860p from 900p, while Nomura cut to 950p from £10. Both, however, kept "buy" ratings on the stock and remained positive about the deal. "The blowout rights inflation was way above our forecasts, but it's not a game changer for Sky's competitive position," said Laurie Davison at Deutsche. BT does not look to be using its rights as a base for an all-out assault on Sky's leadership in pay-TV, so the risk of material churn from Sky Sports to BT looks low, and it can pass on some retail and wholesale price increases. Shares in BSkyB were down 7.6 per cent, however, to 643p, while BT Group shed 2.8 per cent to 203.3p. The overall market had a volatile morning after a Moody's sovereign downgrade of Spain to one notch above junk caused Spanish benchmark yields to jump above 7 per cent, while an auction of three-year bonds in Italy added to the nervousness. The benchmark index fell 0.7 per cent to 5,443.22. On the mid-cap FTSE 250, WH Smith was a prominent climber after the retailer issued a trading statement in which it said it was confident in the outcome for the full year in spite of its caution on the consumer environment. Like-for-like sales in the first 15 weeks of its second half were down 3 per cent from last year. Shares gained 2.8 per cent to 484.7p. The news elsewhere in the retail sector continued to be downbeat. Shares in small-cap luxury goods retailer Mulberry Group fell 22.5 per cent to £15.60 after its full-year revenue and profit missed market forecasts.