Shares in Sky fell in London trade today after the pay-TV group agreed to pay a record £4.2 billion to retain its dominance of Premier League soccer broadcasting rights in Britain.
Analysts had expected Sky to pay about 40% more than the £2.3 billion it shelled out for the current three-year contract.
Instead, under pressure from fierce rival BT, Sky offered an 83% increase to secure the new contract running from 2016 to 2019.
Sky, 39%-owned by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, will show 126 live games a season under the new deal.
BT, which entered the sports pay-TV market in 2012, will pay £960m to screen 42 matches a season over the three years.
Though that represents a 30% increase from the £738m for BT's previous deal, investors appeared to welcome the company's relative restraint in the bidding battle, lifting its share price 3.5%.
BT had already ramped up the pressure on Sky by winning the rights to screen all live European Champions League matches for three years from the 2015/16 season, forcing Sky to up its game in the English auction to retain its position as a leading sports broadcaster.
Analysts at Citi said the headline figures are likely to concern investors but that Sky had done well to retain the lion's share of the rights.
Sky said it would pay for the new contract by finding savings elsewhere in the business and by limited price rises for customers.
It gave no indication on the size of any potential price increases, but added that it aims to minimise the impact on customers.
