The Premier League, which enjoys the most lucrative television deals in world football, gets 1.78 billion pounds for live rights under the current agreement which has one more season to run. It is seeking a new three-year deal to start from 2013/14.
There has been speculation that Qatar-based Al Jazeera might seek to bid for rights after expanding aggressively in its coverage of French football.
Under the current deal, BSkyB, part owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, shows 115 games per season and U.S. owned ESPN a further 23.
BSkyB has had the lion's share of live rights in Britain since the Premier League was launched two decades ago and its coverage has helped to fuel its expansion to more than 10 million households.
Ross Hair, ESPN's managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told The Guardian newspaper on Thursday that his company would bid aggressively.
"We have a very specific outcome [in mind] - more games and building the quality of those games," he was quoted as saying.
