Singapore – As bidding for the next three-year cycle of English Premier League soccer looms, the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore is believed to be looking at intervening to prevent the costs of broadcast rights escalating any further. MDA are believed to be hosting meetings between rival pay-TV operators StarHub Digital Cable and SingTel mio TV, to encourage compromise rather than competitive bids for the EPL rights. StarHub Digital Cable paid around US$150 million for the current 2007-2009 cycle, three times what had been paid for the previous three-year cycle. Rival telco SingTel had previously made public its intention to make soccer and HD two key offerings for the Q4 2007 launch of its new IPTV pay-TV service mio TV. MDA is thought to be responding to complaints from football fans as the price of StarHub’s sports package has almost doubled at the start of each new cycle – rising from S$8 to S$15 per month in 2004; to S$25 per month from 2007. There is obvious concern that a bidding war between StarHub and SingTel would push up prices to the consumer even further from 2010, with such hikes even less welcome in the current economic climate. FA Premier League executives previously told Television Asia Plus that Singapore is their second-most lucrative overseas territory in the world, behind Hong Kong. “SingTel are readying their chequebook (for the next cycle),” said Phil Lines head of international broadcasting and media operations. Since 2004, MDA has been examining the issue of exclusivity across all key content, not just sports rights, but has not intervened thus far.