EFL agrees new TV rights deal worth £595m with Sky Sports

The new deal, which will run from the start of next season until May 2024, represents a 35 per cent increase on the current arrangement

Wolverhampton Wanderers celebrate winning the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship (Getty)

The English Football League has agreed a new five-year TV rights deal with Sky Sports worth £595m, the organisation has announced.

The new deal, which will run from the start of next season until May 2024, represents a 35 per cent increase on the current arrangement.

Sky Sports, in each season from 2019/20, will broadcast: 138 Championship matches; the 15 Sky Bet EFL Play-Off matches. including all three finals; 15 matches from the Carabao Cup, including the final; the semi-final and final of the Checkatrade Trophy.

The deal was unanimously approved by the league’s nine-strong board, but is slightly different to the agreement provisionally made with the broadcaster last September.

That was for £600m over five seasons and Sky Sports has also obtained eight extra midweek games a season that it can show on its red button service in pubs and clubs.

Several Championship clubs, including Aston Villa, Derby and Leeds, strongly criticised the original proposal and they are unlikely to be happy with the final agreement.

But the EFL board has decided this is the best option on the table for the 72 clubs and it will give every club the chance to build their own ‘direct to consumer’ streaming service.

EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said: “The deal we have entered into with Sky, after fully testing the current market through our external advisors, allows our clubs the benefit of financial security which was an absolute priority for us throughout this process.

It is a partnership that, as well as having the necessary financial benefits, provides the EFL with the platform to maximise reach and exposure for its competitions, alongside providing further opportunities for clubs to monetise some of those games not broadcast on television through a DTC offering.”