Major £15m EFL deal to impact West Brom, Leeds United and Sunderland with games shown for on free-to-air TV

ITV are in talks with Sky Sports over a huge £15m sub licensing deal to once again show a number of live matches in the Championship and the League Cup, according to reports from SportsProMedia.

The changes, which would impact the likes of West Brom, Leeds United, Sunderland and Portsmouth could come into effect by the start of next season, would see both competitions return to free-to-air television for the first time since 2012.

Sky Sports currently have a five-year-deal with the EFL, worth an incredible £935m which comes into effect at the start of the 2024/25 season. The deal allows the broadcasting powerhouse to show more than 1,000 matches from the Championship, League One, League Two and cup competitions.

Selected matches will be available on Sky’s linear channels, with all other games – including every single fixture not scheduled for 3pm Saturday and all ties from the EFL Cup – available on the new Sky Sports+ streaming offering.

The i Newspaper understands that Sky are keen to provide more exposure to EFL clubs, while also generating some revenue to offset the cost of the deal. Sky are believed to also be in talks with Channel 4 and 5 over a deal, but as it stands ITV have offered the most attractive proposal. The channel is already renowned for showing the EFL highlights throughout the season.

The current proposal would see ITV show 10 ties from the EFL Cup, including a semi-final and the final itself, and ten games from the Championship. There would be no exclusivity arrangement in the deal, which would still allow Sky to show the same matches if a deal was to be finalised.