• Interviews to take place on arrival at stadiums on match days • All players must give a two-hour interview during season

The 20 Premier League clubs have agreed new rules on media access as part of a range of measures designed to bring fans closer to players and maintain good relations with the broadcasters who pour billions into the game.

Before the start of a new television deal worth around £5.5bn over three years, Premier League clubs have agreed to operate "mixed zones" for rights-holding broadcasters after each match and make at least one player available for two hours every week.

When they arrive at the ground, each Premier League manager and a first-team player will also be required to conduct a brief interview. Sky Sports or BT Sport, or Premier League TV in the case of those matches not shown live on British television, will be allowed to ask three questions of them as they arrive.

There has been a long-standing desire from rights holders, who look longingly at the American model with mandated locker-room access, to increase the amount of access to players they are offered beyond the traditional post-match interview. Each first-team player at each club will have to be made available at least once a season for the two-hour weekly interview slot.

There is also a recognition among some clubs and Premier League executives that more needs to be done to connect players with fans and the broadcasters are hopeful that the new innovations may lead to still greater access.

BT Sport, in particular, is keen to take its cameras into new areas and wants to work with clubs to make dressing-room broadcasts a possibility.

Some clubs are expected to open up their mixed zones, which have been operated successfully by Uefa after Champions League and Europa League matches for some time, to non-rights holders while others will restrict access.

Sir Alex Ferguson's refusal to speak to the BBC for seven years was the most obvious example of the extent to which some clubs rode roughshod over the existing rules, although he eventually resolved his row with the broadcaster after the intervention of the then director general, Mark Thompson.

As part of a related drive to overhaul media facilities, clubs are also being asked to upgrade their press boxes, improve Wi-Fi availability and, in the case of Crystal Palace, provide hot food for reporters for the first time.

The upgraded facilities have caused consternation with some fans, particularly at older grounds where some season ticket holders have had to make way for Sky's new 3D camera positions or for expanded press boxes.

At Thursday's Premier League annual meeting in Darlington, the three newly promoted sides were formally welcomed to the league and the new chairman, Anthony Fry, was introduced to the representatives of the 20 clubs for the first time.

The clubs were also updated on the all but complete £5.5bn media rights sales process, with only deals in Israel, Albania, Cyprus and Malta still outstanding.