Why is Sky suddenly on the back foot?

The Premier League season is barely a week old and results for all the hoopla hardly count. But off the field we already have the makings of a fascinating duel between BT and Sky, both of whom have the rights to broadcast live matches. Now on the face of it this is the biggest mismatch ever.

Sky has the rights to most of the matches, it has built its entire broadcasting structure on the back of the Premier League and played a huge role in making the League what it is today. The Premier League, at least in this country, is synonymous with Sky. And, of course, back in 1992 its success in winning the rights was crucial to the very survival of the broadcaster. Since then it has seen off any number of competitors including ITV Digital and ESPN.