The Football Association (FA) Premier League was formed in 1992 after executives of Football League First Division clubs decided to break away from the century-old league. A main reason behind the decision was for the clubs to collectively take advantage of a battle between media companies for the rights to live television broadcasts of matches.

As stakeholders and prospective rights holders negotiated and bid against each other, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting created a merger, BSkyB. The rights eventually went to the Sky-led bid in a £304 million, five-year deal.

Rupert Murdoch understood the opportunity in taking what had been a world-renowned but rather local product and orienting it toward first, a larger domestic viewing audience and then, a global audience. As of this writing, English Premier League matches are watched in more than 200 nations, and a TV rights deal was valued at about £5 billion for three years.