WHICH CHANNEL IS SHOWING THE FA CUP THIS SEASON?
FIRST ROUND FA CUP TV DETAILS HERE
All you need to know about the biggest-ever season of LIVE FA Cup TV games
MORE FA Cup matches will be shown on TV this season than ever before as a new four-year deal kicks in.
The BBC and ITV have shown the competition jointly for the past four seasons with all TV matches free-to-air on their main channels and streaming services.
But from this season, subscription service TNT Sports takes over as the broadcaster for the competition – although it’s struck a deal with the BBC to allow it to show some it its matches free-to-air.
The biggest shake-up is that from the third round weekend onwards, every game not scheduled for 3pm on Saturday will be available to watch live on TNT Sports.
This means there’s likely to be multiple kick-off games with several matches kicking off at the same time being screened simultaneously (similar to some of Sky’s EFL coverage).
In practice, it means a huge number of FA Cup games will be televised – so, for example, in the third round it is likely around 20 of the 32 fixtures could be screened based on previous season kick-off times which have already been staggered to suit international broadcasters.
Although TNT Sports agreed a full deal for all TV rights to the Cup, it has struck a separate deal with BBC Sport meaning the BBC will screen 14 games a season free-to-air. It will show two games from each round through to the quarter-finals and will also screen one semi-final. Under UK legislation the final has to be screened free-to-air as one of the listed sporting events.
The BBC’s games will also be on TNT. Although the BBC will have their own presentation and commentary teams, they will use TNT’s pictures for match coverage.
The BBC will continue to highlight “grassroots” clubs by featuring some early round games live before the first round proper. These usually air at 12.30pm on the BBC iPlayer, BBC red button and the BBC Sport app and online pages. They usually have limited production with often just a single camera and replays.
As part of the deal for the FA Cup, TNT Sports will also screen the FA Community Shield and the FA Youth Cup semi-finals and final.