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"Premier" league winners will add an additional £50 million to their coffers next season. Meanwhile, the team finishing last will receive an extra £30 million - the same amount earned by last season's champions, London's "Chelsea". All of this became clear after the "Premier" league signed a £625 million deal for television broadcasting rights with foreign companies. This sum will be added to existing contracts with British TV companies and websites. "The deal will allow us to move to a higher level," said "Premier" league chief Richard Scudamore to the "Daily Telegraph" newspaper. Companies "BSkyB" and "Setanta" will become the main broadcasters of "Premier" league matches in the UK from next season, having acquired the rights to broadcast the best league matches from the 2007-2008 season onwards. "Premier" league's revenue for domestic broadcasts next year will reach up to £1.7 billion - £1.3 billion from "BSkyB" and almost £400 million from "Setanta". The former will be able to broadcast 92 matches directly, including the highly regarded Sunday evening matches, while "Setanta" will have the rights to 46 matches. Up until now, the monopoly in this market was held by "Sky" television. The deal with foreign broadcasters will help strengthen the league, make it more popular, and improve its reputation. Meanwhile, BBC sports editor Mihir Bose stated that the biggest winners of this deal will be the top players and their agents, while fans and lower league teams will not feel the consequences of this agreement."
