The first Sky television rights agreement was worth £304 million over five seasons. The next contract, negotiated to start from the 1997–98 season, rose to £670 million over four seasons. The third contract was a £1.024 billion deal with BSkyB for the three seasons from 2001–02 to 2003–04. The league brought in £320 million from the sale of its international rights for the three-year period from 2004–05 to 2006–07. It sold the rights itself on a territory-by-territory basis. Sky's monopoly was broken from August 2006 when Setanta Sports was awarded rights to show two out of the six packages of matches available. This occurred following an insistence by the European Commission that exclusive rights should not be sold to one television company. Sky and Setanta paid a total of £1.7 billion, a two-thirds increase which took many commentators by surprise as it had been widely assumed that the value of the rights had levelled off following many years of rapid growth. Setanta also hold rights to a live 3 pm match solely for Irish viewers. The BBC has retained the rights to show highlights for the same three seasons (on Match of the Day) for £171.6 million, a 63 per cent increase on the £105 million it paid for the previous three-year period. Sky and BT have agreed to jointly pay £84.3 million for delayed television rights to 242 games (that is the right to broadcast them in full on television and over the internet) in most cases for a period of 50 hours after 10 pm on matchday. Overseas television rights fetched £625 million, nearly double the previous contract. The total raised from these deals is more than £2.7 billion, giving Premier League clubs an average media income from league games of around £40 million-a-year from 2007 to 2010. COUNT 10
QSN1 How much was the amount of first five seasons of the Sky television rights? ANS1 The first Sky television rights agreement was worth £304 million over five seasons. QSN2 How much many did the Premier League make from selling its internation rights during 2004-07? ANS2 The league brought in £320 million from the sale of its international rights for the three-year period from 2004–05 to 2006–07 QSN3 What happened to Sky's agreement in 2006. ANS3 Sky's monopoly was broken from August 2006 when Setanta Sports was awarded rights to show two out of the six packages of matches available. QSN4 Why did this happen? ANS4 This occurred following an insistence by the European Commission that exclusive rights should not be sold to one television company. QSN5 What was the average income from media from 2007-2010 for the Premier League? ANS5 giving Premier League clubs an average media income from league games of around £40 million-a-year from 2007 to 2010. QSN6 How many seasons did the first television rights contract award to Sky? ANS6 five QSN7 How much was the first television rights contract awarded to Sky worth? ANS7 £304 million QSN8 How much was the second television rights contract awarded to Sky worth? ANS8 £670 million QSN9 How much was the third television rights contract awarded to Sky worth? ANS9 £1.024 billion QSN10 By being awarded television rights, which other network broke Sky's monopoly on Premier League coverage? ANS10 Setanta Sports