The Premier League's last TV deal, agreed earlier in the year, saw Sky and BT Sport pay a record £5.1 billion ($11.4b) for three seasons from 2016-17. But under the agreement only 168 of the league's 380 matches are available to live television, keeping demand well above supply and seeing the deal worth 71 per cent more than the previous.
Mockridge wants that to change and the views of the Virgin Media boss have seen the BBC call him the "biggest threat the Premier League has faced" in the near 25-year history of the competition. He believes that limiting the number of matches available makes them artificially expensive and offering more games with more choice would see prices come down for the consumer.
"If you go across Europe almost every football game in the major leagues is available on television, the same in the States with NFL, MLB and the NBA," Mockridge said. "The system should be fair, and the consumer should be represented. I would say any objective observer would look at this and say football's become so expensive, consumers are no longer benefiting."
Mockridge did acknowledge there was an element of self-interest in his argument, with Virgin Media unsatisfied forced to pay more to Sky and BT to show matches on their own platforms. But in his view the current arrangement in contrary to competition law and should be amended.
"The Premier League shouldn't be able to say it's exempt from normal competition law. It should be treated like a big business."
