ITV, the commercial broadcaster, has secured a deal to show free-to-air highlights from the English Football League, the country’s second-tier soccer competition, for the next two seasons.
Under the agreement, announced today, ITV will air highlights from the EFL Championship, third-tier League One, fourth-tier League Two, the Carabao Cup knockout competition, and the Papa John’s Trophy from the 2022-23 campaign.
The action will be shown in the ‘primetime’ slot on Saturdays at 9pm on ITV4, with a repeat to be shown on the main ITV channel later in the evening.
Highlights of midweek fixtures will also be broadcast on ITV and the ITV Hub streaming service, covering all EFL matches.
ITV will replace Quest, the Discovery-owned free-to-air channel, which presently shows EFL highlights under a four-year deal that commenced with the 2018-19 season.
Quest had taken over from Channel 5 as the free-to-air highlights broadcaster.
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By GlobalDataITV will also present extensive coverage of the play-off semi-finals and finals as well as a highlights show for each of the rounds of the Carabao Cup and the two-legged semi-finals and final.
A one-hour program of highlights from the Papa John’s Trophy Final will be shown on ITV4 on the day of the final.
Each highlights program will be available in full, on-demand on ITV Hub during the period of 30 days following its first transmission.
Trevor Birch, EFL chief executive, said: “With 1891 matches played across the season, it’s crucial for the EFL that the very best of our match action is widely accessible and we are delighted that ITV will show highlights of our games for the next two years.
“As an experienced major broadcaster with a comprehensive sports portfolio, ITV’s commitment to high-quality coverage will showcase the breadth and depth of our competitions to football supporters all over the country.”
The deal enhances ITV’s portfolio of soccer rights, which includes the England men's and England women's national team matches, and the prestigious FA Cup competition.