EPL rights sales policy is "just the hghest bidder"

Phil Lines, Head of International Broadcasting and Media Operations at the English Premier League recently spoke to the Economic Times of India on EPL policy (extracts):

On leveraging interest in the Premier League beyond TV broadcasting: "Its honestly up to our partners. We usually sell our rights, and the partner takes over. We don’t do any marketing and promotion, as the broadcaster who buys the rights usually does that job for us."

How do you decide who gets the rights? "Whoever gives us the most money. That is clearly the brief. Not money and exposure, but just the highest bidder."

How important is the Asian market? "If you remove the UK from the equation, we make a total of £700 million in terms of revenues from all our markets. More than 50% of that comes from Asia. However, in Asia, our top three markets are Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. India, right now, is probably in the bottom half of the top ten."