The Premier League are to consider setting up a television rights auction similar to the one from which the British government raised a fortune for new mobile phone licences - and that could net top-flight clubs anything up to Stg£2 billion in revenue.

The deadline for initial bids from broadcasters for the packages on offer in the next three-year TV deal, which comes into force from the start of the 2001-2002 season, expired at 5.0 p.m. yesterday.

There has been considerable interest, with 75 requests made for copies of the tender document, which was drawn up at a meeting of club chairmen last month. However, confidentiality rules means that the Premier League cannot comment on exactly who has bid and how much they have offered.

The bids are currently lying in sealed envelopes in the office of Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, who, along with his main advisory team, will assess them shortly.

The main deal, which is currently held by BSkyB, who paid £670 million for a five-year contract last time around, will be largely unchanged, although the price will surely rise considerably.

There will also be - for the first time - a "pay-per-view" package of a further 40 games, as well as two weekend highlights shows restricted to terrestrial "free-to-air television" such as the BBC or ITV.

However, a meeting of the Premier League's board will have to convene in the next three weeks or so to decide exactly how the process should continue and whether to hold a second round of bidding, which would almost inevitably raise the price even further.

This could be done by another round of sealed bids. Yet one appealing option that will come under consideration is an auction similar to that which raised an incredible £22.5 billion for the government recently.

Rather than simply asking companies to bid separately for the right to own the five licences on offer for the new standard of mobile phone technology, called UTMS, the government held a lengthy open auction.

This meant that a range of companies, such as One2One and Vodafone, had to continue hiking their bids until there were only five firms left in the running.

And while the Premier League would raise nothing like that sort of money from their TV rights, they could certainly increase their revenue, especially from one of their main packages if the likes of BSkyB and cable company NTL entered an open bidding war.

OnDigital is meanwhile understood to be likely to also bid for at least the pay-per-view rights, while the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 are set to challenge for the two highlights shows.

There is also the possibility that some companies - such as BSkyB and the BBC in the existing deal, or OnDigital and the ITV companies in their Champions League coverage - will enter alliances of mutual benefit.

It is those sort of issues which Scudamore and his main broadcasting advisor, David Kogan, who has formerly worked for the BBC and Reuters, and now runs his own consultancy business, Reel Enterprises, will address over the next few weeks.

Scudamore and Kogan will bring in other advisors and legal expertise as required, as the Premier League - as well as broadcasters - have to ensure that they do not fall foul of competition regulations.

Indeed, the Premier League have previously pledged that it will not necessarily be the highest bids which succeed as they have to obtain balance across the different packages, with no one single broadcaster effectively establishing a monopoly.

Meanwhile, BSkyB shares fell almost 10 per cent yesterday despite the satellite broadcaster unveiling smaller-than-expected losses and a long-awaited acquisition that plugs a hole in its internet strategy.

Analysts blamed what one described as "a mixed bag" of quarterly results and market fears that BSkyB could be forced to pay up to Stg£2 billion to renew its cornerstone contract for exclusive live broadcasts of Premiership football for a 178p fall in the share price to £13.34.

Some also questioned whether it had overpaid for their soccer website and tax-free betting company, Sports Internet, by agreeing a £303 million all-share deal.