AOB: Rights wrongness

Another postponement = another afternoon in front of Soccer Saturday, wincing as all the teams around us picked up three points. Never mind though - none of the results were really unexpected, and Northwich did us a favour yesterday afternoon by beating Kiddy. Harriers form hasn't been the best of late, so perhaps Tuesday will be a good time to break our double Aggborough/Setanta hoodoo.

Speaking of Setanta, there has been a lot of speculation about their future in the last seven days after they were outbid by Sky for one of the two Premier League live game packages they currently own. From 2010/11 season, Rupert Murdoch and co will now control five of the six packages, meaning Setanta will broadcast just 23 live games a season.

Now I know Setanta are (understandably) not very popular at our level because of the way they dick supporters about at short notice, and because they inflict us with Paul Parker on a regular basis. But I do think it would be a shame if they went to the wall, if only because it would leave Sky without any serious competition.

Moreover, I think the "auction" process that sees the rights distributed is totally half-arsed. Sky are not allowed to own the entire batch of Premier League rights because, according to the European Commission, it is anti-competitive, and not good for the consumer. Yet they are allowed to get their hands on five of the six groups of games. How is that good for the consumer? If you are a dedicated follower of the Premier League you have to shell out twice to see all the matches, and because they control so many of the games there is no incentive for Sky to drop their prices.

For me it should be all or nothing: they either need to let Sky have all the Premier League football, or introduce a rule whereby one company can only own a maximum of 50 per cent of the rights. I believe that would see true competition, and a possible reduction of the cost of watching premium sporting events. If we persist with the current situation, it seems only a matter of time before Setanta goes the same way as ITV digital.