The Football Association (FA) will open negotiations with TV companies for the FA Cup’s next broadcast cycle later this year, with English football’s governing body reportedly prepared to end the Saturday 3pm blackout in the UK.
Under the current regulations, UK broadcasters are banned from showing live football matches between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturdays. However, the FA wants to sell additional FA Cup games in order to boost the competition’s rights value.
Ending the blackout would allow the FA to generate more revenue, as the governing body could sell more matches to domestic broadcasters.
The FA currently holds free-to-air (FTA) broadcast partnerships with the BBC and ITV, which allow a maximum of eight FA Cup games per round to be shown live on TV. This season, however, only four matches have been shown on weekends due to the blackout.
In a similar case, DAZN recently made a bid for the English Football League (EFL) rights, although it has been reported that Sky Sports is the preferred bidder.
The FA’s new proposal would go against the Premier League’s views on ending the Saturday 3pm blackout, as England’s top division is in favour of keeping the ban. It has been reported that Sky Sports and BT Sport are also in favour of the blackout.
On the flip side, lower-league teams are said to be supportive of a fresh broadcasting approach for the FA Cup, with the current model geared towards aiding top-level clubs.
It is worth noting that any new broadcasting deals would not begin until 2025-26, as the TV rights for the next two seasons are already in place. As a result, the Saturday 3pm blackout looks set to remain for the foreseeable future.
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