The news has caused heated debate.
Sky Sports and BT Sport will pay an absolutely astonishing £5.136bn for rights to live broadcasts of Premier League fixtures for three seasons – starting from the 2016/17 campaign.
Sky have edged BT in being awarded five out of seven packages available – Friday and Monday evenings, along with Saturday and Sunday afternoons – equalling to 126 live Premier League fixtures per campaign from 2016-2019.
While BT have been granted 42 matches per season – with the broadcaster given the rights for the 5.30pm kick-offs on Saturdays.
Twitter has of course reacted with great hysteria to the news, as journalists and former Premier League stars have had their say, with the biggest talking point being that the deal should help grass-roots football and ticket-pricing:
READ MORE:
Premier League Announce Record £5.136bn TV Deal: Live Broadcast Rights For Sky And BT In Big Money Auction
What New Premier League TV Deal Means: Elite English Football Clubs To Get Much, Much Richer!
Could Cristiano Ronaldo And Lionel Messi Come To The Premier League After 4.4bn TV Deal?
I want sensible ticket pricing and grass roots football to benefit as much as possible from this deal. Who doesn’t! This is a big issue!
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) February 10, 2015
As tv deals go up ticket prices should come down. To make fans feel wanted, important and values. But clubs will ask YOU for more now. Joke
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) February 10, 2015
Lower ticket pricing More grass roots trickle down Safe standing All reasonable requests ignored by clubs. GIVE FANS SOMETHING BACK!
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) February 10, 2015
Sky say the cost to them of buying Premier League TV rights has risen 83%. All our pips are going to squeak.
— Paul Hayward (@_PaulHayward) February 10, 2015
Sky and BT retain Premier League TV rights for record £5.136bn pic.twitter.com/a31PwYPRCS
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) February 10, 2015
The £5.136billion Sky and BT are paying for Premier League TV rights 2016-19 is a 70 percent increase on what they paid for 2013-16
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) February 10, 2015
£5 billion for the new @premierleague TV deal. The game’s awash with money. Cut ticket prices & make it affordable for real fans to attend.
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) February 10, 2015
“@brew1977: @StanCollymore the amount of money isn’t disgusting, it is what is done with it that is… (or rather isn’t..)” AT LAST!!!
— Geoff Shreeves (@GeoffShreeves) February 10, 2015