THE Premier League returns on Friday, August 21st with newly-promoted Coventry heading for champions Arsenal live on Sky Sports.
The match is one of seven games out of the ten opening weekend fixtures to be shown live on TV with six on Sky and the other on TNT Sports.
The same TV arrangements will be in place as last year as the Premier League enters the second of its four-year deal for live UK rights with Sky and TNT with free-to-air highlights available on Match of the Day through the BBC.
It means Sky have the bulk of the matches again including all games displaced to Sunday 2pm due to European matches in midweek. Sky also have the first pick game of each weekend match week.
So far the opening weekend’s TV games have been confirmed. You can see the estimated dates when the Premier League will announce re-arrangements for TV matches HERE
FRIDAY AUGUST 21
PREMIER LEAGUE
8PM ARSENAL V COVENTRY (SKY SPORTS PL/MAIN EVENT)
SATURDAY AUGUST 22
PREMIER LEAGUE
12.30PM HULL V MAN UNITED (TNT SPORTS 1)
5.30PM BRENTFORD V SPURS (SKY SPORTS PL/MAIN EVENT)
SUNDAY AUGUST 23
PREMIER LEAGUE
2PM MAN CITY V BOURNEMOUTH (SKY SPORTS PL/MAIN EVENT)
2PM BRIGHTON V ASTON VILLA (SKY SPORTS TBC)
4.30PM NEWCASTLE V LIVERPOOL (SKY SPORTS PL/MAIN EVENT)
MONDAY AUGUST 24
PREMIER LEAGUE
8PM FULHAM V CHELSEA (SKY SPORTS PL/MAIN EVENT)
PREMIER LEAGUE ON TV 2026-27
The Premier League enters the second season of its four-year deal with main rights holder Sky Sports, TNT Sports and BBC for highlights. Therefore, the TV arrangements are the same as last season. Due to where it falls in the calendar, more Boxing Day games are likely to be available this season on TV.
SKY SPORTS
At least 215 games each season
ALL first pick matches each weekend
Games at 8pm Friday and Monday, Saturdays 5.30pm, Sundays at 2pm and 4.30pm
ALL games rescheduled to 2pm on Sundays due to European midweeks – Sky will again show multiple matches at the same time in this slot.
EVERY game from three midweek rounds of games (Midweeks of December 2/December 30/January 6)
ALL ten final day matches.
The pick of the Boxing Day Premier League action.
TNT SPORTS
52 live games a season
Saturday 12.30pm kick-offs
EVERY game from two entire midweek fixture rounds (Midweeks of February 10/March 3)
BBC SPORT
FREE-TO-AIR highlights through Match of the Day
Digital rights for BBC online platforms including weekend highlights from Saturday and Sunday matches available at 8pm on BBC iPlayer (30 minutes after final whistle for midweek evening fixtures).
ITV has confirmed the five Championship games it will show FREE-TO-AIR for the rest of the year as part of its deal with Sky.
All the matches have already been selected for live broadcast on Sky Sports on their channels, but under ITV’s agreement with the subscription service they can show up to ten Championship matches a season. ITV use Sky’s match coverage, but with their own commentators, reporters and presenters.
A similar deal exists for the Carabao Cup between the two broadcasters, but ITV simulcast the whole of Sky’s coverage for the final.
FULL LISTINGS FOR ALL SKY SPORTS’ EFL TV GAMES THROUGH TO JANUARY HERE
ITV’S FREE-TO-AIR EFL GAMES FOR REST OF 2026
All matches already showing on Sky Sports
SATURDAY AUGUST 29: MIDDLESBROUGH V WEST BROM (12.30pm)
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19: MILLWALL V WEST HAM (12.30pm)
SUNDAY OCTOBER 11: SOUTHAMPTON V PORTSMOUTH (12noon)
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 22: BURNLEY V BLACKBURN (12noon)
SUNDAY DECEMBER 19: BIRMINGHAM V WEST HAM (12.30pm)
THE Women’s Super League returns in September and has now expanded from 12 to 14 teams.
Sky Sports will again show the majority of the games (163 in total) although a selection of games will also be free-to-air on BBC One, Two and BBC iPlayer. Some games will also stream free on YouTube.
The controversial practice of multiple matches kicking off on Sundays at 12noon has been dropped after being unpopular with fans and leading to poor TV viewing figures. Matches will this season be spread over several time slots.
Sky’s live games will generally be shown on Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays at 12.45pm, Sundays at 12noon and 6pm. The BBC games will usually be in Saturday 12.30pm and Sunday 2.30pm time slots.
ALL AUGUST GAMES LIVE: Every match from the National League will be screened LIVE on DAZN during August as part of a major push to drive subscription numbers.
The first two Saturdays of the season sees all games kicking off at 3pm as there are no blackout rules in force those weekends. The Bank Holiday Monday (August 31) games are all being shown at 3pm.
But all Saturday August 22’s games have switched to 12.30pm kick-offs and what normally would have been Saturday August 29’s fixtures have been all moved to 7.45pm on the Friday so that DAZN can complete the whole month’s matches LIVE.
FOUR LIVE GAMES EVERY WEEKEND: On weekends where the blackout rule is enforced, DAZN will now show at least four games live. There will be a new regular Friday evening 7.45pm kick-off, two 12.30pm matches and a 5.30pm kick-off.
EVERY MIDWEEK/BANK HOLIDAY GAME LIVE: All games in midweek rounds of fixtures will be shown live again this season, staggered across Tuesday and Wednesdays.
PRE-CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: For the matchday before Christmas, DAZN have again staggered all 12 games across multiple kick-offs on Saturday and Sunday with no 3pm games that week. Boxing Day, Christmas Bank Holiday Monday’s and January 2’s games will all kick-off at 3pm and be shown on DAZN as there is no blackout rule in place that weekend.
TV GAMES CONFIRMED UP TO THE END OF JANUARY: After complaints from fans and clubs last season, DAZN and the National League have announced all schedule changes up until the end of January. For fixtures beyond that point, live TV game changes will be announced around five weeks ahead of schedule.
NATIONAL LEAGUE NORTH & SOUTH: Selected North and South division games will also be screened live to be announced in due course. However, these are usually from midweek rounds or non-3pm blackout weekends so don’t so changes to scheduled kick-off times.
INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCES: The above details apply to UK audiences, for the rest of the world ALL games from the National League top division are available to stream.
