FA agrees rights deals with BBC, BT and ITV

The English Football Association has agreed domestic media rights deals for the FA Cup with public-service broadcaster the BBC and pay-television broadcaster BT Sport, and for England national team matches with commercial broadcaster ITV.

The deals cover the four years from 2014-15 to 2017-18.

BT and the BBC were reported by the Daily Mail newspaper to have beaten rival bids from pay-television broadcaster BSkyB and ITV to secure the FA Cup rights.

The four broadcasters were reported to have made separate offers for the rights in the first round of bidding. In the second round, they made joint bids, or bids compatible with partnerships, recognising the FA’s desire to have a mixture of free-to-air and pay-television coverage.

ITV’s England rights cover home and away friendly matches. The broadcaster acquired the live rights for England’s tournament qualification matches in the same period in a separate deal with Uefa, European football’s governing body, in May.

ITV and pay-television broadcaster ESPN are the current rights-holders for FA Cup matches.

BT has taken over ESPN’s rights for 2013-14, the last season of the current deal, as ESPN is withdrawing from the market. ESPN had held pay-television rights for the matches in a four-year deal from 2010-11 to 2013-14.

ITV holds the free-to-air rights to the FA Cup in a two-season deal, covering 2012-13 and 2013-14.

The new deals will mean a return of FA Cup coverage to the BBC for the first time since 2008. It will cover the competition on television, online, mobile and tablet.