The Times:
Michael Grade, the new chairman of ITV, is on the verge of seizing the rights to show live FA Cup and England home matches from the BBC and Sky in a deal worth more than £100 million a year.
This will leave the BBC without live football outside big international tournaments, and is a coup for Mr Grade, who is battling to restore ITV's reputation as a popular, mass-market broadcaster.
It is understood that, under the new four-year deal being negotiated, ITV and Setanta Sports, its partner, will secure the cup and international games for just over £420 million, with the two companies splitting the rights to matches.
Final negotiations between the FA, ITV and Setanta were going on last night at Soho Square, as the parties resolved the final terms of a deal. It remains possible, but unlikely, that the deal will collapse, but the expectation yesterday evening was that the announcement would be made at a press conference today.
ITV is spending nearly £3 million a game in what is Mr Grade's first big move since he took the helm at the turn of the year. Football brings guaranteed mass audiences, with popular matches attracting seven million to nine million viewers in an era when television viewing is fragmenting in the face of multichannel competition.
For Setanta Sports, the victory represents another step up for the broadcaster, which was founded by two expatriate Irishmen, who bought the live rights to Ireland against Holland in the 1990 World Cup to show in a West London pub. A year ago Setanta successfully bid £392 million for the rights to show 46 Premier League games a year, alongside Sky.
Setanta will transmit its newly won games on a pay-channel, which will cost £10.99 on Freeview, the digital television service. It hopes that it can develop a low-cost, paid-for alternative to Sky.
ITV and Setanta defeated a BBC-Sky joint bid, ending eight years of control by the public and satellite broadcaster. Sky no longer believes that holding the FA Cup and England rights is important, while the BBC was unable to justify financially matching the ITV offer.