ITV and BBC won't rush for teatime slot

Sky are still finalising details of which eight games will be offered to terrestrial broadcasters and the fixtures have yet to be announced.

They are arguing that the compromise which has plunged the three-season deal agreed between the Premier League and Sky last August into turmoil means they should be fully remunerated for the loss of exclusivity. But insiders say they have been told to be 'clever' about which matches are sub-licensed.

Despite the EC keeping a watchful eye on what is offered, Sky can point to the fact that their hands are tied to some extent as to the quality of fixtures. Premier League big-hitters such as Manchester United prefer Saturday lunchtime kick- offs to give them enough time to recover for Champions League games.

Big London games will also be excluded because the Metropolitan Police bar early-evening fixtures.

ITV sources say they are interested in the package and lobbied hard for Sky's monopoly to be broken.

But the advertisers who fund the channel had their fingers burned after the failure of highlights show The Premiership when it aired in an earlyevening slot two years ago. It averaged just 4.4million viewers when it ran at 7pm and was abandoned in favour of the later start time of 10.30pm.

That experiment makes it tougher for director of programmes Nigel Pickard to justify the expense of putting football on at 5.15pm.

However, an ITV source said: 'Live games are a different ball game and we are in talks.'

BBC insiders said they were in discussions but still waiting for details to be finalised before making any bid.

One source said: 'It's a question of how much value the games will bring to us. A Saturday 5.15pm slot will be more difficult - will we want to break into the entertainment line-up that we've been building on?'

Another said: ' We ' re in discussions but there is this question of the quality of the games on offer and we're still waiting to hear about that.'

Sky are likely to demand a premium for the loss of exclusivity, despite still making money from selling on the rights. Sky and the Premier League are expected to finalise how much less the pay-TV outfit will pay by next spring but remain divided over the amount. The reduction is expected to depend on how much Sky can make back by sub-licensing the eight games but is estimated at between £20m and £50m.

HOW IT'S DONE IN EUROPE

Spain: A pay TV company has a deal with eight smaller First Division clubs and all Second Division sides, plus separate ones with Real Madrid and Barcelona. There are separate smaller deals with 10 clubs. Free-toair and Pay TV each get one game per week, with payper-view on all other games.

Italy: No collective deals. Sky Italia has agreements with 12 Serie A clubs and show every game on a pay-per-view basis. The other six Serie A clubs get 8.5million euros each from another pay channel, Gioco Calcio. Only highlights are shown on terrestrial channels.

France: Canal Plus's contract was suspended by France's competition watchdog before being allowed to run until 2004-05. Canal Plus now shares coverage with cable channel TPS, owned by terrestrial channels TF1 and M6. No top-flight matches are shown on terrestrial TV.

Germany: The German Football League this week turned down an offer from rights holder Infront to extend a contract for the Bundesliga and threatened to market the television rights on their own. But they said they would consider deals separately only if the current deal with Infront collapsed.