The Premier League is reportedly looking to scrap its TV rights auction amid fears over a drop in revenue.
The UK rights for the three seasons covering the 2022-23 campaign through to the end of the 2024-25 campaign are due to be determined in the coming months - and traditionally, interested parties would lodge bids for the various packages on offer in a blind auction.
Sky Sports currently has the lion's share of live games, with 128 a season, while BT Sport has 52 games a season and Amazon's Prime Video service has 20.
According to The Telegraph, the Premier League is in discussions with the government about ditching the bidding process and instead agreeing straightforward continuity agreements with Sky, BT and Amazon.
The move would likely provoke complaints from competitors, including potential new player DAZN Sports, meaning that an approval from the government in advance is vital.
The newspaper says that the Premier League is likely to provide a discount for its broadcasting partners for renewing the rights for another three years, with industry experts predicting that the usual bidding process could lead to a significant drop in revenue.
Since Project Restart last summer, every single Premier League game has been broadcast live in the UK in an arrangement lasting until the end of this season.
It is unclear whether the new rights deal will contain a provision for all matches to be broadcast; in normal times only 200 of the 380 games a season are shown live in the UK, whereas all 380 are shown around the rest of the world.
The current domestic rights deal for the Premier League is worth around £1.67 billion a season, significantly outstripping nearest competitor, France's Ligue 1, which brings in around £1.04 billion a year from French broadcasters.
Neil Wilkes
