Premier League poised to kick off as talks go on over media coverage

Football's governing bodies and media organisations were still locked in negotiations over print and web coverage of the opening weekend of the Premier League late on Friday, although the two sides are believed to be closing in on a deal. Less than 24 hours before the first match of the Premier League season is due to kick off, media organisations, the Premier League and Football League were thought to be in sight of an agreement to prevent disruption to newspapers' football coverage. Negotiations continued on Friday after Thursday's talks rumbled on until 2am. Following a week of brinkmanship, the two sides only entered renewed talks on Wednesday afternoon after negotiations ended in acrimony when the football bodies walked away from the table a week before. Issues to be resolved include where news media outlets can syndicate material, the speed of publication of pictures and the extent to which readers can engage with online content during a match. The coalition of media organisations – which include most national newspapers as well as agencies such as Reuters, Press Association and Getty Images – cut back coverage of the opening weekend of the Football League season and the first round of the Carling Cup after being locked out of grounds following a refusal to sign a temporary extension to the existing deal. However, the stakes over a potential boycott, or disruption, of coverage over Premier League matches are much higher. Disruption of coverage to Football League matches included sponsors' names being cut from many newspaper reports, a number of matches getting no coverage at all and the Times and Daily Telegraph published scathing attacks on the football bodies on Monday. The media organisations are represented by the Newspaper Publishers Association on behalf of most national titles and the News Media Coalition, which includes news and picture agencies, are seeking more freedom over live match reporting and the use of social media. They are also insistent that the football bodies do not continue the practice of charging for "end user licences" for individual usage rights for all media outlets that take content from news and picture agencies. Both sides agree that elements of the current deal are outdated. The existing agreement dates back to 2003-04, two years before Twitter even launched. A source close to the football bodies rejected the idea that they were trying to hold back the rise of digital media coverage. "We are not dinosaurs and we understand the mutually beneficial relationship we have with newspapers," said the source. "Journalists will have greater freedom to tweet etcetera under the proposed new agreement." • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook