The FA Cup has been sold to TNT Sports – Thursday shock announcement


 
 
 
 
 
 

An announcement on Thursday about the FA Cup.

The FA revealing (see below) that as from the 2025/26 season, they have sold the TV rights to TNT Sports.

Currently, the FA Cup matches are all shown on BBC and ITV channels, meaning pretty much everybody in England can watch every game for free, so long as they have a TV capable of getting all the BBC and ITV channels.

Today’s statement from The FA says that as well as matches on paid for channels….

‘Selected matches from every round will be available free-to-air, and highlights of every game will be made available. Further details of the free-to-air broadcaster will be confirmed in due course.’

Hmmm. Maybe it would have been preferable and more transparent to include the ‘free to air’ details in this announcement today…

Difficult to imagine that whatever the free to air element proves to be, it will be anything close to the access that football fans currently have, when it comes to watching FA Cup matches live.

The FA announcement on The FA Cup sold to TNT Sports – 15 February 2024:

The Football Association [The FA] and TNT Sports have agreed a new four-year broadcast deal for the Emirates FA Cup, starting from the 2025/26 season, which will see more games available than ever before, across both TNT Sports and free-to-air, from the world’s oldest national football competition.

The new partnership between The FA and Warner Bros. Discovery, which operates TNT Sports, will ensure that the world’s longest-running national knockout football competition continues to be as broadly available as possible across the UK.

TNT Sports will showcase live matches from the first round, with every game from the third round outside of 3pm kick offs on display through to the final at Wembley Stadium connected by EE.

Selected matches from every round will be available free-to-air, and highlights of every game will be made available. Further details of the free-to-air broadcaster will be confirmed in due course.

In addition to the Emirates FA Cup ties, TNT Sports will also broadcast the English football season’s traditional curtain raiser, the FA Community Shield, and the FA Youth Cup semi-finals and final.

TNT already play an important role in the growth of English football, having been the broadcast partner for the Vanarama National League since 2013.

The Emirates FA Cup captures the imagination of clubs, communities, and the general public each season, with unrivalled stories written into English football folklore, and all of them will be told across TNT Sports’ channels on EE TV, Sky and Virgin Media, as well as on its streaming platform discovery+.

Mark Bullingham, FA chief executive, said: “The Emirates FA Cup is our crown jewel, and it helps us to provide vital investment across every level of English football, supporting clubs, communities, facilities and the wider grassroots game.

“Every season, and across every round, the Emirates FA Cup creates incredible moments and unforgettable memories for fans, and this new partnership will see selected matches shown live on TNT Sports, as well as free-to-air, from the first round of the competition through to the Final at Wembley Stadium.

“TNT Sports are an outstanding broadcaster with an impressive record of showing some of the biggest and best sporting events around the world, so we are delighted to be working with them on our shared commitment and long-term vision that will ensure the Emirates FA Cup continues to thrive over the coming years.”

Andrew Georgiou, president and managing director of Warner Bros. Discovery UK & Ireland and WBD Sports Europe, said: “TNT Sports is proud to partner with The FA to present more matches of the world’s most prestigious domestic cup competition than ever before alongside our great line up of the Premier League and UEFA Champions League and club competitions, bringing even more live football to our TNT Sports customers.

“The Emirates FA Cup and the incredible stories it creates every season goes well beyond football, making TNT Sports the perfect home as we continue to tell the stories that matter most to the fans.

“We have a huge amount of respect for the place that this world-famous competition has in the hearts of football fans and that’s why continuing to ensure we maintain a level of free-to-air coverage is important for us and The FA.”