TOUGH SHIT, RUPERT

The European Commission began legal action yesterday against the Premier League over the way it sells television rights.

In condemning BSkyB's monopoly as unfair and anti-competitive, it signalled a potentially fundamental change in the broadcasting landscape.

After an 18-month investigation the commission concluded that the current system, whereby rights are sold collectively, is bad for both fans and the less well-off broadcasters.

The commission is concerned with delivering value to consumers, and wants TV rights to be distributed far more widely and for individual clubs to have the right to negotiate their own deals with channels or broadcast matches exclusively on their own TV channels.

The Premier League, the richest in the world, cannot afford to ignore the commission. Brussels has the power to enforce change and could even fine the league up to 10% of annual turnover for anti-competitive behaviour. Yesterday it gave the Premier League 2 months to respond to its accusations.

"The current joint selling arrangements are anti-competitive because they have the effect of foreclosing the market for other broadcasters and ultimately limit media coverage of soccer events to the detriment of consumers," it said in a statement.

The Premier League said it would try to convince the commission that the current arrangements were beneficial to all involved.

Its spokesman Philip French said: "We are taking this in our stride. We are optimistic that the commission will come to agree that joint selling in our case is beneficial to all our member clubs. They have already allowed a precedent for Uefa and the Champions League."

The principal of collective bargaining established for the Champions League will be a crucial part of the Premier League's response.

The League is in a stronger position than was the European federation because it already sells to several delivery platforms. Live games appear on BSkyB, highlights on ITV1 and there are also pay-per-view games.

Smaller clubs may also be reluctant to give ground on the existing system as they are unlikely to do as well when negotiating individually. The commission will argue for more live games, which the Premier League opposes on the grounds that saturation point has already been reached, and the consumer is already well served.

Negotiations for a new contract are expected to begin next spring with the league hoping to match the current three-year deal, worth some £1.6bn.

The commission made it clear that its concerns centre on three main issues - the way in which TV rights are bundled up and sold collectively, the length of contracts, and the exclusive nature of broadcast rights, whereby only a handful of rich broadcasters can afford them.

"Joint selling of TV and media rights is tantamount to price fixing and can be exempted only if there are benefits for stakeholders [consumers]," said Amelia Torres for the commission.