BBC lands Football League, Carling Cup from 2009-2012

By Kevin Hilton

After several years of missing out on the big live TV football deals
the BBC has signed a important contract to show Football League and
Carling Cup matches for the seasons from 2009 to 2012. This was secured
in conjunction with BSkyB, which will almost inevitably show the
majority of the live coverage, but this is a significant achievement
for the public broadcaster.

As part of the joint bid, confirmed
today (November 6), Sky will have exclusive rights to 65 live matches
each season from the Championship Leagues One and Two. The BBC will be
showing Championship games for the first time, with ten games a season
to be broadcast exclusively and live.

Sky will additionally show
the League Play-offs and all three Championship Finals, giving the
satellite broadcaster live coverage of a further 15 matches. The
Carling Cup Final will be shown live simultaneously on both Sky and the
BBC, which will have exclusive rights to two semi-finals in the
competition.

The director of BBC Sport, Roger Mosey, commented,
“We are genuinely excited about the potential of the Football League
properties on the BBC. Our aim in the three seasons of our agreement is
a simple one: to showcase the new acquisitions across all our platforms
and to make our commitment to football deeper and stronger at every
level.”

A spokeswoman for Sky said, “The new agreement will give
Sky viewers great depth of matches and teams, quality live HD
programming and content on mobile and broadband.”

Sky continues
to show the bulk of live Premier League football matches, although
Setanta Sports has taken a proportion, with the BBC holding the rights
to highlights for its Match of the Day programme. The BBC will also be
showing the Euro 2008 championship, as well as the football World Cups
in South Africa (2010) and Brazil (2014). In rugby the BBC has had its
contract to cover the Six Nations extended to 2013, while also
retaining the Masters Golf tournament for another three years.

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