Money talks very loudly when it comes to the Premiership on TV

Sport is money and money is sport. And while the story of the rise of the English Premier League (EPL) and its effect on your cable TV bill is a tale of visionaries, marketing gurus and programming innovation, it is still a story that is primarily about money.

The bidding for the right to broadcast the EPL in Hong Kong from 2007 to 2010 will begin next month. Much has been made about these rights that were purchased by Hong Kong Cable in 2004 for the staggering sum of HK$800 million.

Speculation is rife that Hong Kong Cable may lose out to one of its competitors. But speculation is all we have to go on at this point because the whole operation is cloaked in secrecy.

'The rights will be awarded through an online auction,' said Phil Lines, head of International Broadcasting and Media Operations for the FA Premier League. 'We are very vigilant about ensuring that no one in the room at FA headquarters has a mobile phone or is allowed to leave the room during the bidding.'

By doing so, presumably no moles on the inside can tip off a potential bidder about how high or low they can go in advance. 'Once all the bids are in, if one group has bid 10 per cent higher than the others they will automatically be awarded the rights,' said Lines. Otherwise, it's back and forth to see who will blink first in this high-priced poker game.

It seems odd that the survival of an entire network could be predicated by the rights to broadcast the EPL, but that is almost what it has come to in Hong Kong. Industry experts estimate Hong Kong Cable could lose up to 100,000 subscribers if it fails to keep the rights.

Whoever comes away with the rights, will probably have to pony up a minimum of US$1 billion and how that makes sense on the ledger sheets is beyond me.