Live Premiership football on the Web

Premiership football matches will be broadcast live on the Internet if Britain's leading Internet service provider, Freeserve, gets its way.

Press reports today have suggested that John Pluthero, the company's chief executive, is finalising a bid to make football matches available on its new broadband connection service.

A company spokesman wouldn't confirm the reports, saying "Freeserve is looking at all types of content, and the chief officer [Pluthero] has seen that Sky has shown us compelling comment. But whether we're going to put in some bid [for live football], I can't say."

Freeserve's new service, dubbed High Speed Access, is currently on trial in some areas of the country at £50 per month. The spokesman confirmed that the price will remain "roughly the same" when the service goes live in the summer. This is considerably more expensive than Sky's basic package, which costs £19 for its three sports channels after basic connection.

The Premiership will begin discussing new contractual arrangements for showing football on all forms of media in March and April. It is expected that companies will be able to bid for the right to show football on broadband at this time.