The EFL has announced a new broadcasting rights deal with Sky Sports worth £600 million which will run for five years from the start of the 2019/20 campaign.

The new deal - financially a 36 per cent year-on-year increase on the current agreement - will see Sky cover up to 183 matches a season - a 26 per cent increase - in the Championship, League One, League Two, the play-offs, the Carabao Cup and the Checkatrade Trophy.

Among the new developments will be Sky showing 16 Championship matches on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings each season.

The new arrangement will also see clubs offered the chance to live-stream games which aren’t being shown live by Sky via iFollow in the UK and Ireland as long as they don’t take place in the 2.45pm to 5.15pm blocked Saturday period. Sky will also stream those matches via their interactive and digital services.

EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said: “Sky Sports has for many years been a hugely important and valued partner of the EFL and we are delighted to extend our relationship by a further five years.

“I would like to thank all those who submitted bids and we now look forward to working with the Sky Sports team as they cement their position as the broadcast home of live EFL matches.

“These negotiations came at what was an incredibly challenging period in the sale and acquisition of sports rights in the UK and, having fully tested the market, we believe that not only has a significant increase in value for our clubs been achieved, but also the very best deal, with the best partner has been delivered.

“In agreeing a deal over five seasons, it delivers a guaranteed increase in the level of income distributed to EFL clubs from 2019/20 and long-term financial certainty was an absolute priority throughout this process.

“It is a partnership that as well as having mutual tangible benefits, allows the EFL to maximise reach and exposure for its competitions, alongside providing further opportunities for clubs to generate additional incremental revenues through iFollow.

“The new opportunity for EFL clubs to live-stream their matches through a direct to consumer service in the UK is a revolutionary and exciting step forward for football broadcasting rights in the UK and we will monitor its progress closely to determine how this model can be considered for future EFL rights cycles.”"

"Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports, added: “This is great news for EFL fans and our viewers, with more live games than ever before and more opportunities for fans to watch their teams live.

“With a new dedicated football channel, newly-enhanced digital platforms, adding more games means Sky Sports is getting even better for football fans.

“Securing the EFL strengthens the Sky Sports service even further with the rights that matter most to our customers.

"“Viewing of live EFL games grew by 12 per cent year-on-year last season, and is up a further seven per cent so far this season. Fans value our live EFL coverage and we are delighted to be able to offer even more in the coming years.”

Photo: TWTD

hampstead_blue added 10:54 - Sep 12 Now my season ticket has ended and I can't get to games as much as I'd like, it would be great to be able to live stream the games. Am bored with searching for "other methods" by which to see the games. If it means more money for us great. However, I fear it will just disappear into players pockets.
2

algarvefan added 10:58 - Sep 12 Is anyone using ifollow abroad, if so have there been any problems with it...thanks in advance.
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12th_Man added 11:05 - Sep 12 Good old sky,ruining football since the 90s!
21

Radlett_blue added 11:13 - Sep 12 Another nail in the coffin of football as a sport to be watched live. The greedy EFL have grabbed a few quid from Sky - most of which will be wasted on higher wages & transfer fees - in return for more televised games.
14

whosroundisitanyway added 11:26 - Sep 12 What game is that in the picture? Place looks packed!
1

rickw added 11:27 - Sep 12 Sky don't give a shi# about the EFL they have just got it so their competitors can't! I liked an idea I heard before of the EFL starting it's own freeview channel - get football freely available to the masses, and with Sky + BT only increasing prices more fans would turn to the EFL ....
5

TR11BLU added 11:37 - Sep 12 Cue pi$$ing around with kick off times again. Im in favour of no live football on tv...get the grounds full again, at 3pm on a Saturday. Now there's a novelty
18

PhilTWTD added 11:53 - Sep 12 whosroundisitanyway I think it's the Burton game last season, which was actually one of the lowest attendances for more than a decade!
2

BackTheBlues added 11:57 - Sep 12 No excuse for not putting your hand a little further into your pocket now Mr. Evans.
1

singtown added 12:26 - Sep 12 Algarvefan, I'm from Singapore and the local cable tv provider stopped showing EFL games completely when the season started. So I started the iFollow 'season pass' subscription from the Fulham match onwards and unfortunately both games ended in defeats 😫 It has been pretty frustrating thus far: - no audio commentary - gets booted out quite frequently, say about once in 10-15 mins. A lot of disruption as I had to re-login to the app and launch live video streaming - a few occasions, the app failed to recognise that I am already a 'season pass' holder, so I was rejected access. Had to close the app and re-login again, and PRAY that it works! I am not sure if this is due to geographical location. Perhaps you have better luck from your country of residence! Best of luck!

3

singtown added 12:30 - Sep 12 Also, there is a clause that if a game is picked for live SKY telecast, iFollow shall NOT beam that game on the app
1

MVBlue added 12:52 - Sep 12 Singtel are you Gavin B
0

keebsdad added 13:14 - Sep 12 algarvefan - I'm using it in the Algarve via a Vodafone mobile stream and now the tourists are gone it has been ok. The biggest complaint is the cr@p camera operator who needs to go on a course to learn how to use the equipment
1

eMeM added 13:28 - Sep 12 @algarvefan I'v tried iFollow for two games.. I was using it on PC with Chrome web browser and for some reason picture wasn't good. On YouTube I can watch 1080p without problems but on iFollow I had constant problems even on lowest quality settings. You can try it for one game and decide later if it's worth it. For me it's not good enough and I blame Marcus Evans for poor official website.

1

singtown added 13:46 - Sep 12 Keebsdad, Yes you are absolutely spot on, perhaps the cameraman is a part-timer without proper training. Many times the top of the screen is fixed on the roof shelter of the stadium gallery stand. Zooming during corner kicks were bad too.
1

nysully added 13:52 - Sep 12 iFollow in the US is like watching a youth match being filmed by a parent. You can run the commentary in another browser window on same device you are streaming the match, then spend 10 minutes trying to match the commentary with the video. In my opinion it is still better than just having Radio Suffolk but it should be so much better, occasional buffering on my home wifi so can't imaging it being very good on public wifi.

1

singtown added 14:22 - Sep 12 Nysully, There is no audio commentary, even though I chose 'on' in the selection panel. I can hear the background fans with the 'ohs' and 'ahs' whenever a goal-scoring chance goes abegging, but this audio is about 3 seconds behind the video, which sounds weird
1

Alfie added 15:04 - Sep 12 Leeds will be delighted as it seems Sky like to put as many of their games on as possible. meanwhile we will get shown twice against the Budgies and maybe 1 more if lucky
3

Bert added 16:42 - Sep 12 Ended Sky subscription years ago and apart from cricket have not missed it. Not interested in seeing over paid Premier players taking the pee.
1

MattinLondon added 17:33 - Sep 12 Without Sky's money then the vast majority of stadiums in the top two divisions will be awful. Clubs are in the top flight due to having the right to play in there. Once upon a time Swansea, WBA and Bournemouth and Brighton wouldn't have been able to spare a fiver. Now they spend millions on players and its due to the money of Sky. I'm probably in the minority but Sky has been good to football. Yes, its now probably gone too far but if you class football as a product then it generates billions. And so that's the main reason why a lot of players earn a lot of money. What clubs do with that money is down to them - they could subsidy ticket places, they could refuse to pay agents and players a lot of money. They could overspend and go into administration eg Bolton. So its a double-edged sword for me.

3

TimmyH added 20:18 - Sep 12 SKY getting there fingers in to even more pies, won't improve football. Reason why Chris Froome has become so prevalent at cycling is due to SKY and the money thrown in to making the strongest cycling team around him. SKY is bad news...
4

Taricco_Fan added 20:24 - Sep 12 The soul of English football continues to be ruined by Sky. Too much money, too much hype and the English game is suffering.
6

Norwichbeater added 20:54 - Sep 12 Sorry to change the subject but just watched highlights of QPR game.i looked at player ratings expecting barts to be lowest score. However voted MOM? OMG I loved barts but both goals were appalling. Please view the goals. He went through similar period a couple of years ago when it appeared he let goals in on purpose. I am sure he didn't, however MOM after letting them shots in?...... please vote on performance not reputation 😜

-4

brian_a_mul added 22:12 - Sep 12 This Sky deal won't make a difference to us, we will be in Premier League by 2019!
2

GiveusaWave added 23:45 - Sep 12 Norwichbeater: you watched highlights, not the game. if you had watched the game you'd have a very different opinion.
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