For football this means dozens of matches could be televised simultaneously.Most of these would have to be paid for. No problem, press a button and the goals are instantly flashed up to see.That is one of the facilities Pay-Per-View will bring to armchair viewers. They will also be able to choose their own camera angle and order replays on demand.None of this will be available immediately but interactive TV is not far away; viewers in France can already watch one match and be alerted to goals elsewhere in time to switch over to see the replay.This is possible through the development of Digital television which, together with PPV, will revolutionise televised football.Digital means a vast expansion in capacity allowing 40-odd terrestrial channels and hundreds on satellite and cable. Comparative attendance is from Wales v Netherlands, Cardiff Arms Park, Oct 1996.Not available nationally Research: Sam WallaceTHE FUTUREDIGITAL/PAY-PER-VIEW: HOW IT WORKSYou get home late to find the match is already 1-1. C4 starts showing Italian football.1997Sky agrees pounds 670m four-year deal with Premiership. With other domestic agreements English football’s TV income is pounds 243m pa Including European matches. English football now receives more from TV every four days than it earned in a year a decade ago.

However, changes in the sharing of the spoils mean clubs in the lowest division take 45 days to make same as a decade ago.THE PRESENTTHIS MONTH’S LIVE TELEVISED FOOTBALLDate Fixture Channel Att Ave att 97/984 Sept Halifax v Hartlepool Sky Sports 2 3,820 2,5415 Sweden v England Sky Sports 2 36,000 n/a5 Lithuania v Scotland Channel 5 4,500 n/a5 Wales v Italy BBC Wales 23,160 *37,0006 Oxford v Portsmouth Sky Sports 2 6,626 7,5008 Sunderland v Bristol City Sky Sports 2 34,111 34,4689 Chelsea v Arsenal Sky Sports 1 36,644 33,38711 Tranmere v Huddersfield Sky Sports 2 5,770 8,00013 Spurs v Middlesbro Sky Sports 1 30,427 29,14313 Norwich v Bury Sky Sports 2 16,919 14,44513 Perugia v Juventus Channel 4 4,500 n/a15 Blackburn v Lyons BBC1 13,646 25,25215 Kosice v Liverpool Channel 5 4,500 n/a15 Northampton v W Ham Sky Sports 2 7,254 6,39215 Udinese v Leverkusen Eurosport n/a n/a16 Man Utd v Barcelona ITV 53,601 55,16416 Lens v Arsenal Carlton Select 36,000 n/a17 Chelsea v Helsingborg Channel 5 17,714 33,38717 Newcastle v P Belgrade Tyne Tees 26,599 36,67117 Lev Sofia v Copenhagen Eurosport n/a n/a18 Walsall v Notts County Sky Sports 2 3,991 4,06320 Arsenal v Man Utd Sky Sports 1 38,142 38,05320 West Brom v Bradford Sky Sports 2 12,426 16,65020 Rangers v Celtic Sky Sports 3 50,026 49,07620 Salernitana v Milan Channel 4 n/a n/a21 Blackburn v Chelsea Sky Sports 1 23,113 25,25222 West Ham v Northamptn Sky Sports 2 25,435 25,07524 Man Utd v Liverpool Sky Sports 1 55,181 55,164* Wales v Italy was played at Anfield, Liverpool. It raised the Whitaker tally to six victories: two for John, one for his daughter, Louise, and three for his brother, Michael. Welham, an 18-year-old who had also won here on Thursday, was (according to his rider) “enjoying himself and pleased to be back”. The gelding has shown no sign of being rusty after his nine-month lay-off with a leg injury – much as it might have been welcomed by Belgium’s Dominique Hendrickx, who had held the lead until Whitaker, who was last of 14 into the jump- off, took it from him.
Nick Skelton was going for broke on Zalza – and about to record a seemingly unbeatable time – when the chestnut ran out at the final fence. Would Skelton have won otherwise? Not necessarily according to Whitaker, because he would then have been looking to go much faster.Michael Whitaker’s third win of the meeting was achieved in the Daewoo Championship on Thursday night, when he rode Virtual Village Ashley with great panache to defeat James Fisher on Traxdata Renville by 0.65sec.It provided some compensation for him as he is not part of the Great Britain squad for the World Equestrian Games which open next week in Rome. New figure regarded as huge deal.1992Premier League starts with five-year BSkyB/BBC deal worth pounds 60.8m pa ITV pays pounds 24m to Football League over four years.

ITV has Football League/League Cup; BBC/BSkyB gets FA Cup/England. Joint highlights coverage, at pounds 2.05m pa, continues.1983First live league football, BBC/ITV show five games each for combined pounds 2.6m pa.1985Football League blocks coverage until January, then accepts pounds 1.3m for rest of season.1986Joint deal worth pounds 3.1m pa1988First exclusive deals totalling pounds 17m pa. 10,000 watch.1964Match of the Day starts on BBC2 with Liverpool v Arsenal (3-2). It is quickly poached by BBC1, but moved from early evening to late night.1970sHighlights programmes, Match of the Day, Sportsnight (BBC) and The Big Match (ITV), rule.1979ITV attempts “Snatch of the Day” with exclusive bid, but High Court rules against. The future could be a case of, to paraphrase Timothy Leary, “tune in, turn on, pay up – or drop out”.THE PASTA BRIEF HISTORY OF TELEVISED FOOTBALL1936Television cameras record Arsenal v Everton fixture.1937First live broadcast: Arsenal v Arsenal reserves.1938First live FA Cup final: Preston 1 Huddersfield 0. Digital radio has the same potential as TV and the BBC has already broadcast an entire Premiership programme simultaneously. While the BBC is committed to “free-to-air” programming, commercial stations are not and, increasingly, are outbidding the BBC for radio rights – Talk Radio is covering Manchester United’s Champions’ League games.While there are no plans as yet to encrypt signals so that radio goes pay-per-hear, the potential is there.

That is inconceivable here but, notes the author and analyst Alex Fynn, “even the biggest clubs need other teams to play against”.At least those supporters unable – or unwilling – to meet pay-per-view prices can listen to matches on the radio Can’t they? Not necessarily. As for the lower divisions, how many people would pay to watch Halifax against Hartlepool, broadcast by Sky this month under their obligation to show a dozen lower division matches a season? Even if it was shown on pay-per-view, it would not earn much.Meanwhile, in the United States, the heart of capitalism has socialist sport, with all teams in the NFL sharing income – not just TV but even merchandising. Less well-supported teams would be reduced to making what they can from the visit of bigger clubs. The case comes up in January and the indication is that the OFT may win, though the delaying effects of an appeal, or a compromise solution, should ensure the current deal survives through to 2001.After that it would be a free-for-all, with clubs like Manchester United able to restrict their home matches to subscribers or sell to the highest bidder. The big four clubs (Juventus, Milan, Internazionale and relegated but well-supported Napoli) have tired of sharing revenue largely generated by themselves and this year signed their own deal, bringing them an increased share and provoking an ongoing dispute.This is likely to be replicated here, especially if the Office of Fair Trading wins its case contesting the Premier League’s right to negotiate television deals collectively. “The elite clubs will benefit and the big clubs get bigger.”There are signs of this on the continent, where pay-per-view is already under way and picking up after after a slow start, in which a Dutch attempt failed and an Italian service stalled. Spain, where the pay-per-view channel had 1.4m “match buys” at pounds 4.50 last season, is the biggest success, while Italy now has 120,000 regular viewers at pounds 6.50 a game.The Italian experience is ominous.

It is based, however, on the long-term view that it will be bad for supporters especially if, as is mooted, the bulk of the Premiership programme is moved to Sunday, a notoriously difficult time for travelling fans. It is also seen as likely to accelerate the gap between clubs “It is all about income,” Spiers said. This intransigent view may seem blinkered as there will be occasions, when matches are sold out or supporters are unable to get to a game, when pay-per-view will benefit fans. If pay-per-view comes, everyone should get in for nothing: we are the extras in the extravaganza.”It is not just the televised clubs which are affected. Few Nationwide League clubs like competing with Manchester United in Europe, and 19 Saturday fixtures on 10 October have been moved to avoid clashing with Sky’s coverage of England’s European Championship match with Bulgaria.The FSA, added Spiers, is “totally against pay-per-view but believe it is inevitable”.