ITV and Sky to Become Bedfellows from 2024/25 EFL Season
Author:
Roy Brindley
Selected Carabao Cup and English Football League (EFL) Championship fixtures will be broadcast on free-to-air television screens starting in 2025. Sky Sports and ITV announced the exciting news by issuing a statement that declared an ‘in principle agreement’ had been reached with all parties.
The new deal, music to the ears of football betting sites, is due to start in January 2025, commencing with the Carabao Cup semi-finals. It will run until the end of the 2026/27 season, which means ITV will jointly broadcast several games that will also be available on Sky Sports.
Plymouth Argyle celebrate by lifting the EFL Sky Bet League One Trophy and earning promotion to the EFL Sky Bet Championship in 2023. ?GettyImages
EFL Clubs have approved the new arrangement in accordance with the League’s regulations. Each entire season, the broadcasters say ITV will screen at least nine Carabao Cup matches, including a tie from each of the first four rounds, an additional tie from either the third or fourth round, two quarter-final ties, a semi-final match and the final.
Ten Matches for ITV, Part of Sky’s 1,000-Plus Games
In a press release, Sky explained that ITV will also “simulcast ten matches from the EFL Championship each full season, and five matches in the second half of the 2024/25 season, with the option to flex their selection to matches from League One or League Two.”
The deal comes when the EFL and Sky Sports prepare to begin what they have described as a “ground-breaking partnership”, which will see over 1,000 matches every season televised live from the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
Until the conclusion of the 2028/29 season, Sky Sports will broadcast live a minimum of 328 Sky Bet Championship matches, 248 League One matches, 248 League Two matches, all 15 Play-Off matches, all 127 EFL Trophy matches, and the Carabao Cup’s 93 matches – a competition that is set to see top teams seeded for the first time in 2024/25.
Unprecedented Exposure for EFL Clubs
The figure represents four times more matches than had previously been broadcast and will see all 72 teams featured over 20 times a season. “This huge number of games will be brought to sports fans via Sky Sports+, which comprises multiple live streams, a new dedicated channel and a revamped Sky Sports mobile app,” says Sky.
The broadcasting giant adds: “EFL clubs will enjoy unprecedented exposure as a result [of the new deal], and the additional reach of ITV from 2025 ensures more of the action from the League will be available to broader audiences and millions of football fans.”
As part of ITV’s long-standing partnership with the EFL – sponsored by online gambling site Sky Bet – it will extend its existing EFL highlights deal, beginning at the start of the forthcoming 2024/25 season, by broadcasting 55 highlights programs per season. These matches and highlights will be shown across ITV1 and ITV4, with simultaneous streaming and on-demand viewing available on ITVX.
