English soccer’s second-tier EFL Championship and Carabao Cup knockout competition will receive domestic free-to-air (FTA) exposure after commercial broadcaster ITV agreed a deal with primary rightsholder Sky until the end of the 2026-27 season.
As part of the agreement, which starts in January 2025, ITV will jointly broadcast a select number of Carabao Cup and Championship fixtures also available on Sky Sports (a UK pay-TV heavyweight).
The deal has already been approved by EFL clubs and is reportedly worth £15 million ($19 million).
The tie-up will begin with live coverage of the Carabao Cup semi-finals next season.
Each full campaign, ITV will screen at least nine Carabao Cup matches in total, including one tie from each of the first four rounds, one additional tie from either the third or fourth round, two quarter-finals, one semi-final, and the final.
Additionally, ITV will simulcast 10 matches from the Championship each full season, and five matches in the second half of 2024-25, with the option to switch their selection to matches from third-tier League One or fourth-tier League Two.
As part of ITV’s long-standing partnership with the EFL, it will also be extending its existing EFL highlights deal, beginning at the start of next season, by broadcasting 55 highlights programs per year.
These matches and highlights will be shown across ITV1 and ITV4, with simultaneous streaming and on-demand viewing on the ITVX platform.
ITV’s deal comes as EFL and Sky begin their significant new long-term broadcast partnership next season, with over 1,000 matches to be shown live every year - four times as many fixtures as the previous deal.
Many of those games will be aired on the new Sky Sports+ platform which was launched earlier this month.
Sky’s renewed five-year deal with the EFL is worth £935 million in total and will run through the 2028-29 season.
Trevor Birch, EFL chief executive, said: “We want the EFL to be accessible to as many audiences as possible, and this extra offering, with no additional subscription required, only enhances our reputation.”
The addition of live Championship and Carabao Cup games enhances ITV’s soccer portfolio, which also includes the forthcoming UEFA Euro 2024, England men’s and women’s international matches, the English FA Cup, and a selection of games from Spain’s top-flight La Liga.
