Channel 5 will take over from the BBC as the Football League’s free-to-air broadcast partner from next season after winning the rights to screen weekly highlights.
In a surprising move, the commercial channel has agreed a deal to air a 90-minute highlights show in a prime time Saturday night slot, featuring all the goals from all three divisions, in a prime time 9.00pm slot, with a repeat showing also set to be broadcast on Sunday morning.
The three-year deal, estimated to be worth £2 million, starts at the beginning of the 2015/16 season, when the current contract with the BBC expires, and will run through to the end of the 2017/18 campaign.
As part of the Football League contract, Channel 5 will also take over the rights to screen terrestrial highlights of from every round of the Capital One Cup.
The deal marks Channel 5’s return to televised football after a three-year absence, following the end of its live UEFA Europa League coverage following the 2012 final, and also bolsters its limited sports rights portfolio, which includes England summer cricket highlights and live boxing.
It is also the first time that Channel 5 has won a contract to show regular highlights of an English domestic football league, with the broadcaster’s previous football rights including live coverage of regular UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League matches from the station’s launch in 1997 to 2012, England away internationals from 1997 to 2001, and Scottish League Cup ties from 2002 to 2004.
The condition to screen Football League highlights in a prime time Saturday slot is believed to have helped swing the next broadcast deal in Channel 5’s favour, meaning the broadcaster’s new show will go on air more than an hour ahead of the BBC’s Premier League highlights show Match of the Day.
The BBC has been the home of free-to-air highlights of the Football League and League Cup since 2009, having taking over the rights from former long-standing partners ITV, with The Football League Show, presented by Manish Bhasin, currently broadcast on BBC One in the post 11.45pm slot, after Match of the Day.
The corporation’s initial three-year deal also included a package of selected live games, including 10 Championship matches and the League Cup final, but following the loss of the those rights to Sky Sports and cuts to the BBC sports rights budget in 2012, the future of the BBC’s Football League coverage had been in doubt, with several reports in Christmas 2011 suggesting that the contract would not be renewed.
Fans complained after the show was dropped from BBC One’s schedule that year, which the BBC said was part of a ‘budget decision’, fuelling speculation that the highlights deal would not be renewed.
Despite that, the BBC did manage to retain the rights for a further three years until the end of the 2014/15 season, while the corporation has also since regained live FA Cup rights from ITV.
The new Channel 5 Football League deal is a significant blow to BBC Sport and comes during a season in which they currently hold free-to-air rights to all domestic league and cup competitions.
A nightmare scenario which could face the BBC is also the loss of their much cherished Premier League highlights contract, which expires at the end of the 2015/16 season.
The corporation’s chief free-to-air football rivals ITV, who have recently lost FA Cup rights as well live coverage of European football from next season, are rumoured to be mounting a strong bid to wrestle back the rights, with the auction for the next three-year deal now underway.
Channel 5’s new three-year Football League highlights deal is expected to be officially confirmed early this week.
Sky Sports currently holds exclusive live rights to all Football League and Capital One Cup matches until the end of the 2017/18 season.
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