BBC And Sky To Share Football League Rights

The Football League has struck a new TV rights contract worth £264m which sees
live coverage of the league’s games split between Sky and BBC Sport for the
first time.

The new three-year rights agreement, which begin from the start of the
2009/10 season, is the first time Sky has lost its exclusivity on live Football
League games since the demise of ITV Digital at the turn of the century.

The contracts include shared live coverage of Football League, Carling Cup
and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy matches and represent a 135% price hike on the
League’s existing broadcast contract with Sky and ITV.

Worth £88m per season to Football League clubs, the deals encompass
terrestrial and pay television, broadband internet, video-on-demand and mobile
services.

Under the new agreement Sky Sports will broadcast 65 matches from the
Coca-Cola Football League, exclusively live; the Coca-Cola Football League
Play-Offs – including all three Finals; live matches from Rounds 1 to 5 of the
Carling Cup – two matches per round – and two legs of the Carling Cup
semi-finals, plus live coverage of the Carling Cup Final; live matches from the
Johnstone’s Paint Trophy; highlights and clips of the Coca-Cola Football League,
Carling Cup & Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

BBC Sport will broadcast 10 matches from the Coca-Cola Championship,
exclusively live; two legs of the Carling Cup semi-finals exclusively live, plus
live coverage of the Carling Cup Final; highlights and clips of the Coca-Cola
Football League and the Carling Cup.

The new deals lock out ITV from coverage of the Football League, the
broadcaster currently holding the highlights package to the League’s array of
rights.