The English Football League has moved to implement an early introduction of live streaming of its EFL Trophy competition ahead of wider use of such coverage from the 2019-20 season.
The EFL, which operates the three divisions below the top-tier Premier League, in September agreed a five-season extension to its rights deal with Sky through an agreement that opens up new live streaming opportunities to the UK pay-television broadcaster and the league’s member clubs.
These options have now been brought forward, with the league stating that matches taking place from the second round of this season’s EFL Trophy will be broadcast to fans in the UK and overseas via the EFL’s live streaming platform, iFollow.
All ties up until the conclusion of the quarter-finals are scheduled to be streamed online. The semi-finals and final will then be screened live on Sky Sports. Round two ties are being made available at a set price of £5 (€6/$7), while any existing annual or monthly iFollow subscribers will be given access for free.
The EFL said this development has been made possible due to the new domestic broadcast agreement with Sky, whereby EFL clubs had been granted the rights to stream EFL Trophy games to a domestic audience from the start of the 2019-20 season.
In addition, second round matches of the EFL Trophy will be used as the start of a trial to consider enhancements to the iFollow offer, as the league starts planning to increase the quality of coverage and production values ahead of the 2018-19 campaign.
EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said: “The ability to live stream EFL matches is an exciting new innovation that is already having a major impact for overseas fans of EFL clubs since we launched iFollow ahead of the 2017-18 season.
“This opportunity is being extended to UK-based fans from next season, as we develop plans to deliver live domestic streaming for any non-Saturday 3pm league and live TV games.
“It therefore presents supporters in the UK with a great opportunity to get a taster of the online match day experience and follow their team as the competition nears its conclusion at Wembley on Sunday, April 8. I am confident that this latest development will bring the competition to a new audience as interest and excitement grows throughout the knockout stages.”
Sky’s new deal will run from 2019-20 to 2023-24 and will continue to see Sky Sports exclusively broadcast the EFL, League Cup, EFL Trophy and Play-Off games across the Championship, League One and League Two, live through until May 2024.
From 2016-17 onwards, the EFL Trophy was revamped to feature Category 1-ranked academy teams from 10 top-tier Premier League clubs and six second-tier Championship sides alongside all League One and Two clubs. The tournament had traditionally only been contested by third-tier League One and fourth-tier League Two sides.