UK: Sky to increase its subscription rates an additional €3.45 per month as of 01/06/2015

The British broadcasting group Sky plc announced an average increase of £2.5 (€3.45) per month of its subscription rates as of 01/06/2015, on 19/03/2015. The announcement of Sky's new fee system usually occurs every September. On 10/02/2015, Sky acquired the audiovisual rights to 126 Premier League games per season in the United Kingdom over the 2016-2019 period for £1.392bn (€1.88bn) per season, a total of £4.176bn (€5.64bn) over the period. This represents a 83.2% increase compared to what Sky paid for the 2013-2016 cycle (£760m / €898m per season, £2.28bn / €2.7bn over the period).

"The company will work hard to minimise the impact of higher rights costs on customers, with the majority of the funding coming through substantial additional savings to be delivered by efficiency plans," stated the Sky group to its shareholders on 10/02/2015. The price of the Sports Bundle, which provides access to Sky Sports, will rise from £46 to £47 (about €63.5 to €64.9) per month, an increase of 2.2%. It had already increased by 6% in September 2014, bringing the total increase in its monthly…