20 Jun 2013

Sky TV shares fall after it loses football rights

6:26 am on 20 June 2013

Shares in Sky TV fell by as much as 8.3% on Wednesday after it lost the rights to English Premier League Football.

The pay TV company put in what it says was its highest ever bid but lost out to a New Zealand-based group of investors, Coliseum Sports Media.

Craigs Investment Partners analyst Mark Lister said the sharp fall in Sky TV's shares is a surprise and investors will be watching to see if other sports rights are under threat.

He said at this stage a single event such as this would be considered to be isolated, but English football has a strong following and there could be some impact on subscriber numbers.