The English soccer Premier League won final approval today from the European Commission for binding commitments ending Sky's exclusive rights to live premiership soccer.
"The solution we have reached will benefit football fans while allowing the Premier League to maintain its timetable for the sale of its rights," Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement.
The commitments involved television, mobile and Internet rights, which are to be sold in an open and competitive bidding process and the entire process will be examined by an independent trustee.
The solution ends a long-running dispute dating to 2002 and addresses the Commission's objection to the last round of bidding several years ago, when BSkyB won exclusive rights.
It is paying £1.02 billion (€1.47 billion) over three years for all live Premier League games through 2007.
Under the commitments made, the Premier League will sell each of the packages for live rights to the highest stand-alone bidder, and other bids - such as offering premiums for two or more packages - will be disregarded.
This is important because the Commission says BSkyB offered a premium to win all of the rights last time around. The decision is binding on the Premier League and any violation could result in fines of up to 10 percent of the FA Premier League's worldwide turnover.