The F.A. Premier League today announced the first 11 matches to be shown on a Pay Per View basis during the forthcoming season.
These will be:
Date Fixture
Sun 19th Aug Chelsea v Newcastle United
Wed 22nd Aug Blackburn Rovers v Manchester United (8.00pm)
Sun 26th Aug Aston Villa v Manchester United
Sun 9th Sep Tottenham Hotspur v Southampton
Sat 15th Sep Everton v Liverpool (12.00pm)*
Sun 16th Sep Charlton Athletic v Leeds United
Sun 23rd Sep Leeds United v Derby County
Sun 30th Sep Newcastle United v Liverpool
Sun 14th Oct Blackburn Rovers v West Ham United
Sun 21st Oct Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Sun 28th Oct TBA
Sun 4th Nov Arsenal v Charlton Athletic
*subject to Liverpool qualifying for Champions League
All matches will be screened live at 2.00pm on Sundays unless otherwise stated.
These form part of 40 matches that will be available across a wide range of pay television platforms. This follows the conclusion of contracts with four licensees – BSkyB, Premium TV (ntl), ONdigital and Telewest. This means that the games will be available via satellite, digital terrestrial and cable services reaching the maximum possible audience.
These matches have been selected by a panel made up of representatives from each broadcaster. They will go on to pick the remainder of the 40 matches throughout the season showing each club at least once.
The F.A. Premier League will appoint a contractor to produce the games and provide a single, high quality match programme to each platform.
The broadcasters will announce their own individual wrap around programming, marketing and pricing plans for these matches in due course.
Richard Scudamore, Chief Executive of the FA Premier League, commented:
‘We are very pleased to have successfully concluded the sale of Pay Per View rights to four highly respected broadcasters across a range of platforms, to kick-off from the start of next season.
The quality of our competition is such that there are always great games that supporters want to see live – this new and exciting proposition improves the chances of that immensely.’
For further information please contact:
Dan Johnson
020 7298 1690, F.A. Premier League
Chris Haynes
020 7800 3905, BskyB
Mark Woods
020 7819 8542, ONdigital
Will Robson
07050 094371, NTL/Premium TV
Mary O’Reilly
020 72995115, Telewest Communications