BSkyB to lose football monopoly

Before I cancelled cable last month, I would occasionally watch a European football match - usually from the English Premier League - on Fox Sports World. Fox had its pick of games mainly because they did a deal with the English Premier League back in 2001 that gave them an effective monopoly on the broadcast of these games in Europe. I now note with satisfaction a (partial) reversal suffered by News Corporation - specifically, its English Premier League coverage on the pay-satellite service BSkyB (Sky Sports). In case you didn't know, BSkyB has been doing everything it can to retain its monopoly in the face of attacks from the European Commission. Of course, BSkyB's deal means that millions of fans in England who don't have access to its satellite services can't watch their teams live. The EU Commission in Brussels has been trying for years to force BSkyB to open up their nice little deal to more competition from terrestrial broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV. Finally something seems to be happening, though it won't happen overnight. The commission has announced that the current state of affairs is in fact illegal, and it will force the break-up of BSkyB's exclusive deal when it comes up for renewal in 2007. Now this means that the English Premiership clubs could lose millions because they won't rake in as much cash as before. They might even have to cut back on player salaries. I guess my response is simple: Tough! European football, just like American major league sports, needs to come to terms with the notion that there are limits to how much money you can have sloshing around sport. What's more, if we want to keep football available to audiences for free, we have to make it cheap enough for traditional public service broadcasters and their terrestrial commercial counterparts to bid for games.