British public broadcast giants the BBC and ITV have officially signed a deal with world football governing body FIFA to air all 64 matches of the upcoming 2023 Women's World Cup.
The news comes after months of bickering between various stakeholders in the women's game which included FIFA president Gianni Infantino threatening a media blackout in Europe if broadcasters refused to pay up what he demanded.
Now everyone involved can rest easy, including British fans of women's football, who now know that the showpiece tournament from Australia and New Zealand this summer will be available to watch free-to-air on TV and via live streaming.
The two state TV companies will share the rights to the 64 matches at the tournament with every match appearing on either the BBC or ITV, before the final itself is broadcast across both channels simultaneously.
This deal also allows the BBC to produce radio, podcast and online content throughout the tournament, on top of its TV coverage.
BBC Sport Director, Barbara Slater, said of this new deal:
"We have shown every Women's World Cup on the BBC since 1999 and we are happy to extend our partnership with Fifa for the upcoming tournament.
"The growth of the women's game is extraordinary, demonstrated by the 28 million who watched BBC coverage of the 2019 Women's World Cup and the huge audience of 17.4 million who watched our coverage of the Euro 2022 final last summer on TV.
"In partnership with ITV, we are delighted to make this World Cup available to the widest possible audience and free to air."
ITV are equally excited about this long anticipated deal going through as they look to bring coverage of live matches from the 2023 women's World Cup to their viewers on linear television on ITV1 and ITV4 and also online via live streaming on their dedicated OTT platform ITVX.
ITV Director of Sport, Niall Sloane, said:
"We're delighted to be able to bring comprehensive coverage of the Women's World Cup, free to air to our audiences with both live and highlights broadcasts across ITV and ITVX.
"This tournament promises to provide memorable moments with the popularity of women's football continuing to grow."
Of course, FIFA president Gianni Infantino is also delighted with the news, after pushing for improved bids from European broadcasters for months.
Some of his fiery rhetoric had some women's football fans in the UK and across Europe's key markets worried that they may not get access to the tournament this summer, but all those fears have now been quelled.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) helped strike the deal to allow the UK broadcasters, as well as counterparts in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Ukraine, to secure these rights.
Those crucial hubs of football interest were the ones causing Infantino most concern but this all-encompassing deal brings them all on board.
FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, said of the deal:
"Fifa is delighted to widen the deal with the European Broadcasting Union for the transmission of the upcoming Women's World Cup to include the five major markets within their existing networks, namely France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as Ukraine, thus ensuring maximum exposure for the tournament,"
"As part of this agreement, the EBU has committed to working towards broadcasting at least one hour of weekly content dedicated to women's football on its own digital platform and broadcaster network."
The women's World Cup and European Championship tournaments have also been added to a special list of sporting events which are required by law to be made available by broadcasters free-to-air, often referred to as the 'crown jewels'.
What's more, FIFA have trebled the prize money for this competition, taking it up to £120m for the winning squad.
World football's governing body have also restated their ambiiton to make men's and women's pay for the upcoming World Cup tournaments in 2026 and 2027 equal.
This is despite the men's World Cup in 2018 attracting 3.5bn viewers across the tournament compared to the total of 1.1bn people globally who chose to tune in to the women's version in 2019, according to data from FIFA.
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