Football On Television Today
- See also: Premier League media coverage
Coverage of Premier League now dominates football on English television, especially in financial terms; the contracts agreed between the league and broadcasters BSkyB in 1992 and 1997 were worth £191.5m and £670m respectively. Sky were also able to show more live games than previously, with several games live on many matchdays (originally Sundays and Mondays). However, the European Union objected to what it saw as a monopoly on television rights and demanded the 2007 contract be split into separate packages of 23 games; eventually Sky won four of the six available packages, with the other two were taken by Setanta Sports. Setanta went bankrupt in 2009 with its packages taken over by ESPN. From 2010/11, Sky have five packages and ESPN one. The top tier still has a presence on terrestrial television in highlights form on Match of the Day.
From the 2009/10 season, live coverage of the Football League returned to British terrestrial television for the first time since 2001 with the BBC securing 10 live Championship (second tier) games per season, as well as Football League highlights after Match of the Day. Sky also showed live lower league football while Setanta also showed large numbers of Conference National games before the channels demise.
There is also extensive coverage of numerous Cup competitions. Every match in the Champions League (formerly European Cup) is available either on ITV or Sky Sports while ITV is also the primary broadcaster of the FA Cup with two live games per round while Sky and the BBC show the League Cup. ITV4 and ESPN show the Europa League with even the Football League Trophy getting live television exposure on Sky Sports.
Read more about this topic: English Football On Television, History
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