Sky Sports and ITV agree to air Carabao Cup and Championship games for free from 2025.... after the former struck groundbreaking deal with EFL to broadcast more than 1,000 league games per season

Sky Sports and ITV have reached an agreement in principle to broadcast some Carabao Cup and Championship games for free from January 2025.

The arrangement has been given the nod by EFL clubs and will run until the end of the 2026-27 campaign. 

ITV will simulcast 10 Championship games in 2025-26 and 2026-27 and will also show at least nine Carabao Cup matches every campaign.

As the deal starts in January next season, they will only show five Championship games for the 2024-25 season and EFL Cup assignments from the semi-finals onwards. 

After agreeing their deal with ITV, Sky Sports wrote that 'EFL clubs will enjoy unprecedented exposure'.

The EFL highlights show will also continue with 55 programmes per season after ITV extended its deal with the EFL. 

This fresh announcement comes after the EFL and Sky Sports agreed a groundbreaking deal which will see more than 1,000 live matches broadcast from next season. 

Each club across the Championship, League One, and League Two shown at least 20 times. 

A new channel, SkySports+, will be at the forefront of that coverage, with eight cameras at each game. 

Every opening match of the season will be showed and the 3pm blackout will not apply on the first weekend. 

Broadcasters have previously come in for criticism from some fans for moving kick-off times and dates around at short notice. 

However, Sky will pick every game until January before the season starts. They will then announce games up to March in November.

Traditional slots will remain with matches likely to be shown on a Friday night and on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. There are no plans to show games on Sunday evenings.

Sky will undertake a recruitment drive to bring in the commentators needed and have vowed to ensure the standard will be high. Viewers will also be able to rate the performances of players.

The blackout applies when 50 per cent of Premier League and Championship matches are scheduled. Because the Premier League season will not have started on the weekend of August 9-11, games can be shown at 3pm.