THE FA & TNT SPORTS AGREE NEW FOUR-YEAR DEAL TO BROADCAST THE FA CUP FROM 2025-26 Thursday 15 Feb 2024 • Selected matches will be live on TNT Sports and on free-to-air from the first round to the final • New deal will see more Emirates FA Cup ties broadcast than ever before, with every game from the third round outside of 3pm kick offs to be shown live • Further details of the free-to-air broadcaster will be confirmed in due course. • The Emirates FA Cup final will be available on TNT Sports and free-to-air. • The deal enables The FA to provide valuable investment into grassroots football The Football Association [The FA] and TNT Sports have agreed a new four-year broadcast deal for the Emirates FA Cup, starting from the 2025/26 season, which will see more games available than ever before, across both TNT Sports and free-to-air, from the world’s oldest national football competition. The new partnership between The FA and Warner Bros. Discovery, which operates TNT Sports, will ensure that the world’s longest-running national knockout football competition continues to be as broadly available as possible across the UK. TNT Sports will showcase live matches from the first round, with every game from the third round outside of 3pm kick offs on display through to the final at Wembley Stadium connected by EE. Selected matches from every round will be available free-to-air, and highlights of every game will be made available. Further details of the free-to-air broadcaster will be confirmed in due course. In addition to the Emirates FA Cup ties, TNT Sports will also broadcast the English football season’s traditional curtain raiser, the FA Community Shield, and the FA Youth Cup semi-finals and final. The Emirates FA Cup captures the imagination of clubs, communities, and the general public each season, with unrivalled stories written into English football folklore, and all of them will be told across TNT Sports’ channels on EE TV, Sky and Virgin Media, as well as on its streaming platform discovery+. Mark Bullingham, FA chief executive, said: "The Emirates FA Cup is our crown jewel, and it helps us to provide vital investment across every level of English football, supporting clubs, communities, facilities and the wider grassroots game. “Every season, and across every round, the Emirates FA Cup creates incredible moments and unforgettable memories for fans, and this new partnership will see selected matches shown live on TNT Sports, as well as free-to-air, from the first round of the competition through to the Final at Wembley Stadium. "TNT Sports are an outstanding broadcaster with an impressive record of showing some of the biggest and best sporting events around the world, so we are delighted to be working with them on our shared commitment and long-term vision that will ensure the Emirates FA Cup continues to thrive over the coming years." Andrew Georgiou, president and managing director of Warner Bros. Discovery UK & Ireland and WBD Sports Europe, said: "TNT Sports is proud to partner with The FA to present more matches of the world’s most prestigious domestic cup competition than ever before alongside our great line up of the Premier League and UEFA Champions League and club competitions, bringing even more live football to our TNT Sports customers. "The Emirates FA Cup and the incredible stories it creates every season goes well beyond football, making TNT Sports the perfect home as we continue to tell the stories that matter most to the fans. “We have a huge amount of respect for the place that this world-famous competition has in the hearts of football fans and that’s why continuing to ensure we maintain a level of free-to-air coverage is important for us and The FA."
Used to be. Then they started playing the final at 5pm on a PL Saturday and getting rid of replays. Just another irrelevant cup competition now
Once was, definitely not now. It’s sad really. I love the FA Cup and always will but it’ll never be the same.
Money is killing the game....Its a death by a thousand cuts..Sky, TNT, Amazon all pay billions and want a return... I miss the old game, it will never come back
Give it enough time and the Euros and World Cups will end up on pay to watch platforms. TV is saturated with football and its a fortune to watch it on multiple platforms. As for the FA Cup, once they took it off free to air, played the semis at Wembley and the final KO times moved was when I started to prefer the league Cup. Always been on sky so that was excepted and I love night matches. Plus, Sunderland had that class run in the Worthington Cup back in the 90s as I was getting bang into football so I always had a soft spot for it.
I agree with every word lamenting the way that this cpmpetitin has declined in iportance. However if WE ever reach those final stages again, I venture to sugest that there will be the same massive demand for tickets from our Fans as there has always been
It's not great but its also not that bad. It just means some matches will be broadcast on TNT. Other games will be on the BBC or ITV and the final, as a Category A listed event, has to be broadcast on a free-to-air channel. Same with the World Cup and the Euros. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofc...vents are events,FIFA World Cup (all matches)
bbc win rights for games in every round and final too https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13165325/BBC-FA-Cup-TNT-Sports-ITV.html
There would always be games from each round and the final on free to air TV because its a protected event.
