[nialli]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

It was the EC that required the Premier League to sell its rights to more than one bidder. It was not Ofcom.
In a way, the sports pay-TV market was artificially skewed in Sky's favour by government regulation. Firstly, BT was not allowed to sell its own payTV service until 2001. Secondly, the cable companies were licensed on a town-by-town basis, not nationally. This kept them distracted by mergers and without the scale and buying power to purchase sports content successfully in the long term.
As a result of this regulation, Sky was able to keep a large number of sports rights for a long time and to use the rights to develop its market share at the expense of its competitors and to secure a 64% market share of the pay TV market. This dominant position is the reason for the must-wholesale obligations that it has placed on it for SS1 and SS2.

100% agree with you on this sir