Sky Sports to show all English Football League opening weekend matches for first time – Sky News
Usually, matches that kick-off at 3pm on a Saturday are never shown live due to a blackout rule in place – but in a TV-first, the opening round of next season’s fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will all be shown live on Sky.
Sports correspondent @RobHarris
Wednesday 8 May 2024 15:45, UK
Every match from the opening round of the three English Football League (EFL) divisions will be streamed live in a broadcasting first.
The airing of all 36 fixtures on the weekend of 10 and 11 August will be on a new Sky Sports + service from the parent company of Sky News.
It marks the start of a new five-year broadcasting rights deal between Sky and the EFL, covering the professional leagues below the Premier League.
Sky Sports managing director Jonathan Licht said: “For the first time, we will broadcast every game live from across the EFL on the opening weekend.
“It’s going to be a huge moment for football fans up and down the country and is a fitting way to kick off our ground-breaking new partnership with the EFL.”
Matches that kick-off at 3pm on Saturdays cannot usually be broadcast live to UK audiences due to a long-running blackout rule.
Also known as Article 48, it is a blacked-out period between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturday afternoons when live football can’t be shown, meaning on most weekends the main broadcast fixtures are done around this time period.
But for the opening weekend, the blackout would not be in place, with the Premier League starting a week later.
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Sky Sports + is a new TV channel launching in August along with live streams.
It will bring four times as many matches from the EFL with all 72 teams featured more than 20 times in a season.
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Alongside football, it will bring increased coverage from golf and tennis as well.
The ATP and WTA Tours, US Open tennis as well as PGA Tour golf will all be more readily available to viewers.
The service will also offer more sports documentaries and can concurrently stream more than 100 sporting events.
