British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC has won three of the six packages on offer in the auction for the right to televise live English Premiership football.

A second round of bidding has opened for the remaining three packages, said the Premier League in a statement.

UK broadcasters had until yesterday to submit sealed bids for the rights, which cover the three years from the start of the 2007/2008 season.

The Premier League has never revealed the rules governing the auction, but it is understood that it reserved the right to re-open the bidding in the event that offers were either too low, or there was little to choose between two competing bids.

Due to a recent European Commission ruling, BSkyB is guaranteed to lose its monopoly over the live rights for the first time since the Premiership began in 1992. Back in November it said that no one broadcaster can hold more than five-sixths of the live broadcast rights over English top-flight football.

Posted: 04|28|06 at 10:31 am. Filed under: UK News.