After the Beeb pulled out, the only deal in town!
Uncle Ron can't look to television to get him out of any financial headaches, not after the latest three year contract covering 2012-15 was signed between Sky and the Football League.
Pen was put to paper on the deal worth £65m a year for three seasons, and represents £23m per year, a horrible 26% drop from the previous contract, which will expire at the end of next season.
If things were not bad enough for most clubs, the only terristeral broadcaster interested, the BBC, who at the moment spend £88m-a-year deal to screen 10 live Championship games a year plus the Carling Cup final, could not justufy spending anything like that amount due to the recent licence fee freeze, and with Sentanta going bust, the door was open for Sky to offer what they liked.
The Football League have calculated that 82% of player contracts will have expired by the time the new contract starts, giving clubs time to bring down their costs, which for the Shrimpers will mean almost zero!
Their chairman, Greg Clarke, has warned a parliamentary committee that the game was "heading for the precipice and we will get there quicker than people think", and this deal will not help cover any losses made from losing sponsors or supporters not renewing season cards, especially at Roots Hall.
Clarke told www.football-league.co.uk:'Sky Sports is a highly valued partner of The Football League and we are delighted to extend our relationship for a further three seasons. They are a class act and our clubs will welcome their continued support. This has been a challenging climate in which to negotiate television rights, given the state of the economy and the lack of competitive tension in the sports broadcasting market. I am confident that our clubs will take heart from seeing such a significant ongoing investment in their competitions, despite a reduced level of broadcasting income, as it provides financial certainty in uncertain times.'
Under the new deal Sky will show 75 live Football League games, the play-offs, 15 Carling Cup ties and Johnstone's Paint trophy matches each season.
A highlights package for terrestrial television has not been taken up, and maybe the Beeb will look at that, but we're talking hundreds of thousands here, not millions!