Major £15m EFL deal to impact Portsmouth with games shown for free

ITV are reportedly in discussions with Sky Sports over a £15 million deal that would allow the free-to-air broadcaster to show up to 20 Carabao Cup and Championship fixtures, coming as huge delight for Pompey fans hopeful of catching all the Blues’ EFL action next campaign.

The terrestrial broadcasters were reportedly approached about a sub-licencing deal following Sky’s five-year-deal with the EFL to show all of its fixtures outside the Saturday 3pm blackout, which amounts to over 1,000 matches a season.

Sky’s record £935m deal comes into effect at the start of the 2024/25 campaign and selected matches will be available on Sky’s linear channels while all the other games, including all scheduled outside the Saturday 3pm slot and the EFL Cup ties will be available on the new Sky Sports+ streaming offering.

According to the I newspaper, Sky have been keen to provide more exposure for the EFL clubs and its own broadcast offering, but are hopeful of bringing in more revenue to help with the cost of the £935m deal.

Sky reportedly held initial talks with other public service broadcasters, including Channel 4 and Channel 5, but it is ITV who offered the most attractive proposal. There is also the added bonus that ITV are already the EFL’s free-to-air highlights partner.

The last time fans were able to tune into EFL matches on FTA platforms was also the last time Pompey were in the Championship when, between 2009 and 2012, Sky and BBC oversaw a successful joint bid for the rights. The BBc showed ten games a season from the second-tier on an exclusive basis, alongside a highlights how, and EFL Cup semi-final and the final.

12 years on and Sky is said to be extremely open about the structure of the deal, which could see ITV be given the first choice of matches from selected match weeks or cup rounds. The current proposal would also see ITV show ten EFL Cup fixtures, including a semi-final and the final as well as ten Championship games.

There is said to be no exclusivity arrangement with any game selected by ITV also available on Sky Sports and while the deal is still being finalised, the report from the I says EFL clubs will be asked to vote on the basic terms of the deal, after which Sky will enter into formal contract negotiations.