ITV will show three live Carabao Cup games – including the final – and five EFL games for the remainder of the season as part of a deal struck with Sky Sports.
All four semi-final two-legged ties will be shown on Sky, but ITV will also screen the first leg of Arsenal v Newcastle on Tuesday January 7 and the second leg of Liverpool v Spurs on Thursday February 6.
ITV is set to simulcast the first of five Championship or EFL games in January too.
Sky remains the main home of the EFL and Carabao Cup with a record-breaking 1,000-plus matches being shown this season as part a five-year deal. But it has decided to sub-let a limited number of games to ITV for this season and next.
Next season ITV will show at least nine Carabao Cup ties and ten matches from the Championship. ITV has the option of swapping its Championship games for League One or League Two matches.
ITV are expected to provide their own pre- and after-match coverage, but it’s not yet clear whether it will just simulcast Sky’s live match coverage. All the ITV games will be broadcast on Sky.
Sky’s new deal this season has seen multiple kick-off times and more games being moved to protect the 3pm Saturday black-out period.
Sky’s coverage has divided opinions among fans with some supporters welcoming the huge choice of games, especially full midweek rounds being available. Others have bemoaned the more regular switching of kick-off times including more Saturday 12.30pm, Sunday 3pm and Monday and Thursday 8pm games. Some viewers have also complained about technical issues when multiple games are screened on Sky.
ITV’s addition of EFL competitions is a boost to its football portfolio having lost its FA Cup rights which expire at the end of this season.
The broadcaster will be been bolstered in 2025 by the return of England’s Nations League, World Cup and Euro qualifiers after ITV wrestled back those rights from Channel 4.
ITV already has a deal in place to show EFL and Carabao Cup highlights.
MORE than 1,000 TV games from all three divisions from the EFL will be shown live in the new season in one of the biggest shake-ups in UK sports TV history.
Here’s our FOOTIE ON TV guide to all you need to know about the new season.
Why so many games – what’s going on?
Sky have agreed a new five-year deal with the EFL. A number of options were considered including the EFL even floating the idea of trying to get the 3pm Saturday ‘blackout’ period, which prevents any football being screened live at that time, scrapped.
However, in the end the Sky deal with multiple games across kick-off slots from Thursday night through to Mondays was decided the best way forward. This means 3pm Saturday games remain protected, but effectively any game not at 3pm on Saturday will be televised live. On a regular EFL weekend, 26 games will kick-off in the traditional 3pm slot (seven in the Championship, 19 across Leagues One and Two).
The EFL and Sky say the deal is worth £187million a season.
Won’t this be chaos for fans with loads of late changes to dates and kick-off times?
No, for much of the season fans will actually get much more notice. Sky and the EFL have pledged that all TV matches being moved for the period up to the FA Cup third round weekend will be confirmed before the season kicks off.
However, it gets more complicated when it gets to the climax of the season with a four-week notice of changes.
Here’s the planned timetable for TV games being announced:
TV games for opening weekend have been confirmed with EVERY match being shown – see HERE
TV games up to the end of Septemberhave been confirmed – see HERE
TV games from October up to the third round of the FA Cup have been confirmed – see HERE
TV games after the FA Cup third round to the first weekend of March (announced by November 1).
TV games after the first weekend in March (announced four weeks in advance on a rolling basis, ie first weekend of March confirmed by February 1).
How will all these games be shown?
Sky have set-up a new service called Sky Sports+ which will be a TV channel and a streaming service which will be part of Sky Glass, Sky Stream, Sky Q and NOW. As well as Sky Sports+ there will be games on the main Sky channels. Sky Sports+ will also be integrated into a revamped Sky Sports app.
Will the extra games get just limited coverage like the Sky midweek Championship red button games with one camera only?
No, the production will be much better with multiple cameras and replays.
Sky’s main channel games will have the full comprehensive coverage that all Sky’s main football games receives.
For the extra games Championship matches will have at least six cameras, four for League One and two in League Two.
What’s happening to iFollow?
Sky Sports is effectively replacing the iFollow service. However, audio commentary will also be available through clubs’ websites and existing arrangements TV and audio-wise will continue for overseas fans.
Won’t this all be extra money to pay out?
The EFL games are available to anyone who subscribes to the full Sky Sports package, Sky insist there will be no extra charge on top of that. If you are not a Sky subscriber you can get the service through a Now Sports day or month membership.
How come ITV are also showing some games?
Sky have provisionally agreed a deal to “sub-let” a limited amount of games which will be shown free-to-air on ITV.
In a full season, ITV will show ten Championship matches a season (which will also be on Sky) and also some Carabao Cup games including the final.
The deal won’t start until the start of 2025 so you won’t see live action on ITV until January.
THE EFL ON TV 2024-25 SEASON
SKY SPORTS MASSIVE NEW TV DEAL – ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
WHAT WILL BE SHOWN?
1,059 EFL matches EVERY season shown LIVE across main Sky Sports channels or via the new Sky Sports+ service (Sky Sports+ will be incorporated into all Sky services for sports subscribers- Sky Q, Sky Stream, Sky Glass, Sky’s apps and NOW TV). Sky say Sky Sports+ will be incorporated into Sky Sports subscriptions and will not costs extra
SKY GAMES BREAKDOWN EACH SEASON
328 Championship matches
248 League One matches
248 League Two matches
ALL 15 play-off games
ALL 93 Carabao Cup games
ALL 127 EFL Trophy games
EACH WEEKEND 10 LIVE EFL fixtures will be shown, five from the Championship, five from Leagues One and Two.
TIME SLOTS: Five to seven games are expected be shown on Saturdays at 12.30pm, regular games on Fridays (8pm) and Sundays (12noon/3pm) with additional matches on Thursday and Monday nights (8pm).
EVERY opening day match will be shown.
EVERY final day game will be shown.
EVERY midweek game will be shown.
EVERY bank holiday game will be shown (including Easter, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day.
EVERY League One & League Two game will be shown during international breaks.
SATURDAYS 3PM
Those matches not selected for broadcast which kick-off in the Saturday 3pm slot will not be shown. Broadcast games will be shown out of this time with the final kick-off times and days to be confirmed at a later date.
The EFL says there will be seven 3pm Championship games each regular Saturday and 19 League One/Two games combined at 3pm on Saturdays.
STREAMING
Those matches not on the main Sky channels, but also selected will be available via Sky Sports+ rather than iFollow which will available on TV and mobile devices which replaces the current Sky red button and EFL iFollow service,
iFollow will still provide audio commentary and streaming to international viewers.
MATCH COVERAGE
Sky and the EFL have committed to providing greater coverage in terms of the number of cameras at games, particularly those being streamed.
Games shown live on the main Sky channels will have a minimum of eight cameras.
Games on Sky Sports+ rather than on the main Sky channels will have a minimum of four cameras for Championship and League One games and two cameras for League Two matches.
WHEN WILL TV GAMES BE ANNOUNCED?
With so many matches being shown, Sky and the EFL have promised fixture re-arrangements for TV games for the whole of the first half of the season up to the FA Cup third round will be confirmed before the start of the season with the first batch announced within a week of the fixtures being released.
ITV’S LIVE FREE-TO-AIR GAMES – ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
WHAT WILL ITV SHOW EACH SEASON?
10 LIVE CHAMPIONSHIPS MATCHES (WHICH WILL ALSO BE ON SKY)
9 CARABAO CUP GAMES A SEASON INCLUDING THE FINAL, ONE SEMI-FINAL AND TWO QUARTER-FINAL (ALL CARABAO CUP GAMES WILL ALSO BE ON SKY).
NOTE: ITV’s agreement with Sky doesn’t start until January so in the first season of the deal it will show just one Carabao Cup semi-final and the final before the deal kicks in proper the following season. Likewise five Championship games will be shown on ITV in the second half of the season. ITV also has the option of switching Championship games for League One or League Two games.
