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Apax, the private equity house advised by former BBC director general Greg Dyke, is the latest contender to throw its hat in the ring in the race for Premiership television rights. The firm is planning talks with potential bidders for various packages of rights that are expected to become available once the European Commission and the Premiership have agreed how to end BSkyB's status as the dominant television broadcaster of the Premiership. Other private equity firms such as Apollo, Benchmark Capital and Providence Equity are also interested in the reliable cash flows generated by Premiership television coverage. Other potential bidders are cable firms Telewest and NTL which are in advanced merger talks; terrestial broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV and Five; and pay TV services such as Top Up TV. Some analysts think that Sky will be allowed to own the rights to no more than half the games available for live broadcast. Many leading clubs have expressed concern that a loss of exclusivity by Sky will dramatically reduce their revenue from the next three year deal.
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