Peterborough United to benefit from huge new EFL TV deal with Sky Sports, but fans face kick-off time disruptions

Over 1,000 EFL matches will be broadcast live starting in the 2024-25 season. The initial deal will run for five years.

The deal is seen as a huge financial boost for lower league clubs as it represents a huge increase on the existing £119 million a year Sky contract.

But fans will see kick-off times and scheduled matchdays changed as matches will be broadcast on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.

The EFL have however committed to seven out of 12 Championship games kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday along with 19 out of 24 matches in Leagues One and Two.

The broadcaster has pledged to increase the notice period for supporters when fixtures are moved, with 10 fixtures set to be shown every weekend five from the Championship, with a further five from Leagues One and Two.

In total, 1,059 EFL matches are set to be broadcast across existing Sky Sports channels or live via a Sky Sports streaming service. The EFL have said that they expect the increased value of the deal to more than compensate for the loss of revenue from in-house streaming services, and say that the investment from Sky Sports will result in significantly enhanced coverage of streamed fixtures.

Every match from the Carabao Cup and EFL Trophy will be broadcast, as well as all fixtures on the opening day of the campaign, the final day of the season, and all games played on bank holidays.

Under the EFL’s distribution model Championship clubs will benefit from a 46 per cent increase in televions revenue with clubs in Leagues One and Two getting a welcome 25 per cent increase.

Facility fees, whereby clubs earn greater sums when their fixtures are selected for coverage, will remai,n but clubs will debate how they will be allocated later this year.