[michael21]

The Premier League has kicked off its TV rights auction - increasing the number of live matches up for grabs by nearly 12%.

The organising body for the UK’s elite football competition will make 154 live matches a season available to bidders, split into seven separate packages.

Five of these bundles will be made up of 26 games, while the remaining two will consist of 12 matches.

No broadcaster can buy more than 116 matches, which equates to four of the large bundle and one of the small.

The rights are sold every three years and this latest round will be for seasons 2013/14 to 2015/16.

During the last auction, BSkyB picked up 115 live matches a season, while ESPN mopped up the remaining 23 games a season. The packages were sold for a total of £1.78bn.

Disney-owned ESPN has indicated that it would like to increase its share of live Premier League coverage, an ambition that will not be hindered by the fact that 16 more matches will be available to bid on. Other broadcasters rumoured to be interested in bidding include Al Jazeera.

In addition, a free-to-air highlights package will be made available again, including catch-up rights for the winning bidder’s VoD service. The BBC currently owns this bundle for Match of the Day.

Online rights

Separately, companies will be able to bid for the right to show long-form highlights of the remaining 226 games of a season as “near live” (from 8.30pm if a game kicks off at 3pm).

The matches will be split into two packages, one for linear broadcasters and the other for online – opening up the process to internet giants Google and Apple, who are rumoured to have shown an interest in Premier League rights.

There will also be an online clips package for all 380 matches - a service currently operated by Yahoo.

The announcement rules out the possibility of the Premiere League selling TV rights across Europe, instead of on a country-by-country basis.

The organisation was considering the move after the ECJ ruled last year that homeowners could buy decoders showing foreign broadcasts without penalty.

hopes a freeview channel get some live games

[michael21]

i hope sky get 6 games

[michael21]

bump as football fans are now online