Folks, this was just released by the European Commission:

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Competition: Commission receives improved commitments from FAPL over sale of media rights

The European Commission has received improved commitments from the English Football Association Premier League (FAPL) regarding the sale of the FAPL�s media rights for the 2007 season onwards. The commitments follow an investigation by the Commission, under EC Treaty competition rules on restrictive business practices (Article 81), into the sale by the FAPL of media rights to the Premier League competition on behalf of the individual clubs. The commitments provide for the FAPL to sell a number of packages of media rights, showcasing the League as a whole throughout each season. Live TV rights will be sold in six balanced packages with no one bidder being allowed to buy all six packages. Packages will be sold to the highest standalone bidder for each package, and bids other than simple standalone bids will be disregarded. The auction will be monitored by a Trustee, selected by the Commission, who will report to the Commission as to whether the commitments entered into by the FAPL have been followed.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said, �I am pleased to bring this long running case closer to a satisfactory outcome. The commitments offered by the Premier League should ensure that the media rights are sold in a fair and transparent manner and give British football fans greater choice and better value.�

The Commission sent a Statement of Objections on this case in December 2002 (see IP/02/1951). The Statement of Objections recognised that there are in principle benefits to joint selling to football fans and media operators as well as to the clubs of the Premier League. However the Commission raised concerns that in practice the FAPL�s implementation of the joint selling agreement deprived media operators and British football fans of choice, led to higher prices and reduced innovation. The FAPL submitted provisional commitments to the Commission in December 2003, which included a commitment that no single broadcaster would be allowed to buy all of the packages of live match rights from 2007 onwards (see IP/03/1748). These commitments were the subject of a public consultation, following which the Commission sought clarifications from the FAPL concerning the adequacy and detail of the provisional commitments.

The FAPL�s revised commitments address the points raised in the public consultation, including: specifying the precise terms of the no single buyer rule and the conduct of the auction process; creating more evenly balanced packages of rights; and increasing the availability of rights to broadcast via mobile phones.

The Commission will now prepare a draft decision that would render the FAPL�s revised commitments legally binding (under the terms of Article 9 of Regulation 1/2004). This will be sent to the competition authorities of the Member States for consultation, following which the Commission would issue a final decision. Any final decision would be issued no later than the first quarter of 2006.

Well, so that’s settled?