'The league's new deals, starting in August 2004, include,
for the first time, limits on the number of times any club
can be screened live. It sounds great - except that the
limits are so lax that teams such as United and Arsenal can
- and doubtless will - be screened live up to 25 times per
season.
'While the league insist the change means more opportunity
for everyone to be on, in reality it will bring saturation
coverage of Sir Alex Ferguson's side - TV football's biggest
draw - even closer. Last season, for example, 22 of United's
matches were screened either on Sky or as part of the pay-
per-view package, and Arsenal and Liverpool 19 times each.
With clubs pocketing £597,000 every time they're on Sky,
£150,000 for a pay-per-view game and £70,000 if they're in a
featured match on ITV's The Premiership , it pays to be on.
'That domination will become even greater after August 2004,
from when any club can be shown in a maximum of eight of the
38 'gold' games (the ones shown on Sundays at 4pm), eight of
the 38 'silver' matches (Mondays at 8pm) and nine of the 62
'bronze' matches (the new Saturday slots at 1pm and 5.15pm).'