After already surpassing their previous bid of 1.314 Billion Pound to win four of the six “live game packages” premium packages last Wednesday, the Premier League announced that BSkyB won the rights to a fifth package after outbidding both Setanta and ESPN to take their spent total to 1.623 Billion Pound.

Via Gaurdian

Setanta will pay £159m for 23 matches per season, all kicking off on Saturday teatime.

In all, the Premier League brought in a total of £1.782bn, a 5% increase on the existing deal. It will be seen as a good result for Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore in a challenging economic environment. Between them, the broadcasters will pay £4.3m a game.

With the auction for overseas rights still to come, it remains on course to beat the record total of £2.7bn under the existing deal. The BBC has already agreed to pay £173m to secure the future of Match of the Day until 2013, taking the running total to £1.955bn.

“Setanta bought two packages and paid a two-package price. This time they’ve paid for one package,” said Scudamore. “It’s like whether you have one car on the drive or two. They have a package of very attractive rights.”

US sports giant ESPN also confirmed that it had bid for the rights and said it was “disappointed” not to have prevailed. But the broadcaster is not thought to have made a serious attempt to wrest the rights from Sky.

Image via Panther2