The BBC is interested in bringing live Premiership football for the first time to free-to-air television once the league's £1.02bn deal with British Sky Broadcasting expires at the end of the 2006-07 season.

Peter Salmon, the BBC's director of sport, told the Financial Times: "You can't not take an interest in a contract as substantial as Premier League live. Highlights remain important to us and we love presenting Match of the Day [the Saturday night Premiership highlights programme]. But with live football being so ubiquitous, clearly the audience's relationship with the highlights is different."