Far East TV deal bonanza

Today's news also comes just a day after Manchester United announced record pre-tax profits for six months of £26.8m.

Although TV rights across Europe are in sharp decline, it is the Far East's fascination with the Premiership, evident in the hugely successful summer tours by clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool, that makes it a growth market. ESPN Star Sports has 185 million subscribers and need the rights to drive subscription.

The present foreign rights contract of £170m over three years should be easily surpassed when the revamped deal is officially announced by the Premier League within the next week.

The contract lasts for three years, starting next season, and will run concurrently with the new domestic deal with Sky.

All the money from the overseas TV rights will go to the 20 Premiership clubs, while 95 per cent of the domestic deal goes to the clubs and the other 5 per cent to the Football Foundation.

A Premier League spokesman confirmed that ESPN had clinched the pan-Asian rights but refused to comment on deals with other broadcasters. "We are in the process of selling the rights to Premiership matches all over the world," he said. "We are not making any official statement until the process has been concluded.

"However, we have been pleased by the strong interest in overseas TV rights. We have to set it against the background of world sports rights. It isn't as buoyant as three years ago. We hope that interest is reflected in the price we get."

The foreign rights deal will make up for any loss incurred should Sky renegotiate their deal after having been forced by the European Union to sell eight matches a season to other broadcasters.