UK pay-television broadcaster BSkyB and commercial broadcaster ITV are set to acquire the next cycle of domestic rights to the England national football team’s qualifying games for the Fifa World Cup and Uefa European Championships tournaments, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.
The report said that the two broadcasters were close to agreeing deals for England’s qualifying matches over four years, from 2014-15 to 2017-18.
The CAA Eleven agency is selling the rights to all European qualifying matches for the 2016 European Championships and the 2018 World Cup.
Sky has not broadcast England games since 2007, when the English Football Association, the sport’s national governing body, which was then responsible for selling the rights, agreed a deal with pay-television broadcaster Setanta.