Category Archives: CHANNEL 4

PREMIER LEAGUE TV RIGHTS GO UP FOR GRABS

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The race for the next set of Premier League TV rights is underway with more live games than ever before being made available.

Broadcasters have been invited to bid for up to 270 matches per season, the most ever since the formation of the league.

They’ve been split into five separate packages of up to 65 games each with ALL the games moved back to a Sunday 2pm kick-off due to teams’ involvement in Europe to be broadcast live for the first time. Currently just one 2pm and 4.30pm match selected by the broadcasters can be screened on Sunday as part of the present deal.

It means up to seven games out of the ten on some weekends after European midweeks could be broadcast live.

A source at one broadcaster told Footie On TV: “In reality no extra games will be moved for TV purposes. The extra games being shown at 2pm on Sunday have only moved because teams have played in Europe on the midweek before, the only difference is they will now be shown live on TV. It was becoming increasingly infuriating for fans that these matches weren’t being shown on TV so it’s a sensible move by the Premier League.”

The other slots for TV games will remain the same with Saturday 12.30pm and 5.30pm kick-offs, Sundays 2pm and 4.30pm and Monday and Fridays 8pm. It’s thought all midweek and bank holiday matches will also be all screened live.

The Times also reports that every game on the final day of the season will be made available for broadcast.

The new contract will run for the four seasons from the 2025-26 campaign to 2028/29. Sky, TNT and Amazon hold the rights to live games until then.

Free-to-air highlights are also being auctioned off. Those rights are currently held by the BBC and shown through Match of the Day. Other “near-live” rights are also available, similar to the 5.15pm mini-highlights packages Sky currently hold and show via its app and YouTube channel along with its Game of the Day and Match Choice offerings on a Saturday night.

Sky and TNT will bid again for live rights. Amazon, which has already secured some Champions League games from next season, and sports streaming service DAZN are likely to bid for some packages too. The high cost of the rights could put them out of reach of free-to-air broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, but they could all battle it out for the highlights package.

ITV SNATCH LIVE ENGLAND GAMES FROM CHANNEL 4

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ENGLAND’s Euro and World Cup qualifying matches, friendlies and Nations League games are to return to ITV after the broadcaster wrestled back the live TV rights from Channel 4.

From September next year ITV will show all England’s World Cup 2026 qualifiers, all their Euro 2028 qualifiers, all Nations League games and all friendlies.

The four-year deal – struck between ITV and UEFA – covers matches both home and away.

It means Channel 4’s two-year spell as the home of England’s friendlies and qualifying games will come to end next summer.

ITV’s deal covers at least 40 England matches, working out at about ten matches per season.

It’s not clear yet who will claim the UK rights to the same matches for Scotland, Wales, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. UEFA currently have a deal with pay TV channel Viaplay Sports, but it is set to shut down its UK operation leaving the rights up for grabs.

ITV’S LIVE ENGLAND DEAL 2024 TO JUNE 2028

ALL England’s home and away World Cup 2026 qualifiers.

ALL England’s home and away Euro 2028 qualifiers.

ALL England’s home and away Nations League games.

ALL England’s home and away friendly internationals

ITV currently share the live rights with the BBC to Euro 2024 and Euro 2028 as well as World Cup 2026.

CHANNEL 4 TO SHOW ENGLAND LIVE IN EUROS FINAL

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CHANNEL 4 has struck a last-minute deal with UEFA to show England U-21s in the final of the European Championships on Saturday (July 8).

Games so far have been shown only on UEFA’s own streaming service as no UK broadcaster agreed a deal to show the competition.

England will take on Spain’s U-21s in the match which kicks off at 5pm.

Channel 4’s coverage is expected to start at 4.45pm and will be hosted by Jules Breach with commentary from Steve Bower. Both Breach and Bower perform the same roles in the broadcaster’s coverage of England’s senior men’s team.

The game will also be on 4’s streaming service.

ENGLAND U-21S V SPAIN U-21S | UEFA 2023 European Championship Final|5pm (Saturday) |Channel 4

SKY SPORTS SET TO LAND NEW EFL TV DEAL

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SKY Sports looks set to win the race to continue to show live games across the Championship, EFL and Carabao Cup after it was named the “preferred bidder” for the UK rights.

Sky’s current deal is due to expire at the end of next season with the EFL inviting bids from broadcasters from the 2024-25 season.

The league had even suggested it could make every single game available for streaming across all three divisions and the Carabao Cup which would need an end to the UK 3pm Saturday ‘blackout’ rules on screening live football.

DAZN, Viaplay and BT Sport were all reportedly in the running for the rights with the possibility of free-to-air matches on either BBC, ITV or Channel 4 also floated.

But the EFL has now confirmed that it will enter into an exclusive month-long negotiating period with Sky Sports, leaving the long-time broadcast partner of the league in pole position to retain the rights.

What’s not clear is how many games will be shown, although it seems likely more matches than ever before will be screeened live.

Sky’s current five-year deal allows them to show 138 matches with full coverage and limited single-camera red button coverage of midweek Championship rounds.

Fans had been split on whether all matches should be available to stream with some excited about the prospect of always being able to see their team’s games on TV or online, but others fearing blanket availability could hit both EFL and non-league attendances.

DAZN had been reportedly keen on the streaming option of showing all 3pm Saturday games, but some broadcasting sources had raised doubts about the logistics and capabilities of covering and showing so many games all at the same time.

One option thought to being considered was for a number of broadcasters to split the rights with one streaming the 3pm kick-offs and other selecting key games to be shown in other time slots as Sky currently do.

But with Sky now named by the EFL as the preferred bidder it looks like the new deal will be exclusive to them. It would be a huge surprise if Sky don’t now go on to land the rights, but the big question is just how many matches will be shown.

The EFL said it had completed a “full and comprehensive” review of all the bids received for the rights before opting to enter into talks with Sky. It has declined to comment further.

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