SAINTS chairman Rupert Lowe has admitted the uncertainty over the current television rights deal is preventing the club from long-term financial commitments.

Lowe has admitted the club have not entered in contract negotiations with Anders Svensson as a result.

The Swede has two years of his contract to run but Saints are keen to sit down and talk about an extension.

Lowe is reported to have said: "The current television deal runs out at the end of next season.

"Any prudent club would want to see the size of the new deal before handing out contracts which would affect the period of it."

Peter Sharkey, who writes a weekly business of sport column for the Daily Echo, said Saints could easily lose out financially if the current television rights deal is deemed illegal by the European Commission.

"The higher echelon of clubs would be okay because they could negotiate their own television contract," he said.

"But even the strong mid-table Premiership clubs - and Saints can legitimately be described as one of those - wouldn't have such an easy time.

"After all, there's only so much money the television companies have to spend on football.

"And if you were a television company, who would you pay to show - Manchester United or Tottenham? "I'm a Liverpool fan and even I'd prefer to pay to watch Manchester United than Tottenham!"

Sharkey doesn't believe Premiership clubs will get as much from the next television rights contract as they did for their current one.

"If each club had to negotiate their own contract, Sky wouldn't be so keen on putting in as much as they do at the moment," he said.

"If Sky's monopoly was attacked, they could respond by not doing as much as they do - they might decide to spend more time and money on other sports.

"Sky are a monopoly broadcaster but you can't say that's been harmful to football - football wouldn't be as popular as it is these days if it weren't for Sky.

"At the moment you have one supplier, Sky, and one demand - football fans.

"That's good for Sky and possibly for the fans, but it's not fantastic for everyone - the trickledown to areas like the Nationwide League, for example, isn't that great."