The English Premier League said on Wednesday it had struck a deal with BSkyB for the broadcaster to continue showing the majority of live matches in a deal reportedly worth more than one billion pounds.

"The Premier League has awarded four of the six audiovisual rights packages to BSkyB for seasons 2010-13," a statement on the Premier League's website said.

"We will be proceeding to a second round of bidding for the remaining two packages in due course."

The Times newspaper, which like BSkyB is owned by News Corporation, reported that the broadcaster had paid more than one billion pounds (1.1 billion euros, $1.4 billion) to retain its four existing packages.

They allow BSkyB's Sky channels to show 92 of the 138 live matches available each season.

A second round of bidding on the two remaining packages, which is thought to involve Sky, Setanta and ESPN, could push the overall TV receipts above the 1.7 billion pounds from the deal for the 2007-2010 seasons, the Times said.

The injection of TV cash from Sky has been credited as driving the rise of the Premier League as the most lucrative in world football, capable of attracting many of the best players and wealthy club owners.

(AFP via China Daily Feburary 6, 2009)