I INTRODUCTIONThis paper examines the influence of television on attendance at English FA Premier League football matches in the 1993-1994 season. It finds that satellite television has a significant net negative effect on such attendances.' This has potential consequences for the growing number of professional sports that are now broadcast live by satellite and/or cable television companies.'There have been numerous studies of sports attendance by economists. One of the major, but largely neglected, issues is the influence of television on the demand for tickets, which has potential significance for attendances together with the finances of individual clubs. In a system where earnings from television alone have increased by 3,0000/0 over the brief history of live coverage in the UK, there 'This is not to suggest, however, that the overall financial outcome is detrimental to football. The deal between the English Football Association and BSkyB is worth €214 million over the period 1992-1997. This is approximately six times the magnitude of the previous arrangement with terrestrial television. The payments system is analogous to a multipart tariff with each club receiving a fixed fee together with a sliding scale dependent on final position.'Satellite television began in the UK at the end of the 198Os, initially offering three channels dedicated to sport. Deregulation raised concerns that satellite companies would outbid terrestrial stations for major sporting events (Whannel, 1992).

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A recent development in the UK television industry has been the emergence of satellite and cable broadcasting. We examine the entrance of the BSkyB satellite network into the coverage of the first division of the rugby football league over the 1993-94 season. This paper extends the familiar model of sport attendance to incorporate the live television transmission of games which is found to exert a negative influence on attendance. Our result suggests considerable scope for future research in this neglected aspect of the factors affecting sport attendance.