Roger Mosey (BBC Sport) reveals background to increase in BBC MOTD Premier League Highlights rights fee

For many years people thought that the BBC significantly overpays for its Premier League highlights (ie Match of the Day – MOTD) rights.

Roger Mosey has a new book being serialised in The Times and he now reveals how the BBC came to be paying what it is.

Key Points:
– ITV had the rights for 2001/04
– BBC then regained the rights for 2004/07 – paying £105m (£35m per year)

Key points per Mosey re the auction in 2006 for the 2007/10 rights:
– This “seemed like an easy process for us” [ie BBC]
– Sure ITV would not bid – bruised after 2001/04 contract
– Doubted C4 had the money or ambition
– C5 interest rumoured in the past but never come to anything

Mosey awaited call from Premier Leagues Scudamore (after submitting opening bid) – expected it would be good news and the rights had been retained.

Scudamore rang and said the auction was going to a second round!

“To this day we have never known officially who our rival was, but we are pretty sure it was C5”

“Whoever it was, they must have run us very close in the first round”

BBC subsequently won the 2007/10 rights for £171.6m – an increase of 63%.

That was the big jump – the rights have only crept up much more modestly since then:

2010/13 – £172m (approx)
2013/16 – £179.7m
2016/19 – £204m