Brussels, 18/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the European Commission said it had received improved commitments from the English Football Association Premier League (FAPL) regarding the sale of the FAPL's media rights for the 2007 season onwards. Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a press release: “I am pleased to bring this long running case closer to a satisfactory outcome. The commitments offered by the Premier League should ensure that the media rights are sold in a fair and transparent manner and give British football fans greater choice and better value.” The FAPL's previous commitments did not properly reflect the December 2003 agreement with the European Commission, which wanted an end to block selling of broadcast rights for live Premier League football matches. After several approaches from the Commission, the FAPL improved its offer, foreseeing selling batches of live match broadcast rights individually (see EUROPE 9054). Finally, with the new pledge, FAPL can sell a number of packages of media rights, showcasing the League as a whole throughout each season. Live TV rights will be sold in six balanced packages with no one bidder being allowed to buy all six packages. Packages will be sold to the highest standalone bidder for each package, and bids other than simple standalone bids will be disregarded. The auction will be monitored by a Trustee, selected by the Commission, who will report to the Commission as to whether the commitments entered into by the FAPL have been followed. The Commission will now prepare a draft decision that would render the FAPL's revised commitments legally binding (under the terms of Article 9 of Regulation 1/2004). This will be sent to the competition authorities of the Member States for consultation, following which the Commission would issue a final decision. Any final decision would be issued no later than the first quarter of 2006.