LONDON (AFX) - James Murdoch, the chief executive of British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC, is on the verge of signing a deal with Setanta to begin pub screenings of the Premier League football packages won by the Irish broadcaster in last week's rights auction, the Sunday Telegraph reported, citing a source close to the negotiations.
Sky has won four of the six packages of rights to broadcast Premier League matches live, with Setanta securing two packages.
The deal between Sky and Setanta, which is expected to be announced early this week, will see Sky broadcast Setanta's packages of games to Sky's 40,000 pub and club subscribers, the newspaper said.
'This is an important deal for both companies,' a source close to the negotiations told the Sunday Telegraph. The pubs and clubs will pay Sky to watch the games, which will then pass on a big chunk of the revenue to Setanta. No figures have been disclosed.
Sky receives about 200 mln stg a year from pub and club subscriptions, the Sunday Telegraph said. The broadcaster will also axe its Premiership Plus pay-to-view service with the loss of 30 mln stg of revenues per year from 2007, the newspaper added. nick.huber@afxnews.com nh/ak COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2005. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited