Sky's Not The Limit

Shock! Horror! BSkyB doesn't have everything its own way! Think what you will about the European Commission, but there are times when it comes in very useful and breaking up monopolies (which the UK Government isn't very good at) is one of them, so expect a barrage of anti-European propaganda from the Murdoch-owned press in the coming months.

But there is another theoretical solution to this problem not mentioned by the article that BSkyB might choose as a desperate measure (especially as it doesn't involve creating original content), and that is to pick another sport to invest heavily in on the principle that having two popular sports with joint broadcasting rights will make up for losing exclusive Premiership football rights.

A possible candidate for further investment and promotion could be the underfunded game of rugby, especially given its similarities with football/soccer and the recent Rugby Union World Cup success, but any investments made are likely to be minimal compared with Premiership football.

Promoting a new sport would be a very high risk (and expensive) strategy to pursue with no short term benefits, but BSkyB has few other options at this point of time that stand any chance of generating the same level of income.