New Premier League TV deal to include Friday night football

By Mike Berry

15-Dec-2014 - Last updated on 15-Dec-2014 at 16:23 GMT

Related tags: Premier league, Uefa champions league, Uefa

Pubs will have the opportunity to screen live Premier League football on Friday nights as part of a new TV rights deal up for grabs in the new year.

For the next broadcasting deal, running from August 2016, the Premier League is to make 168 live matches available per season – 14 more than currently – divided into five packages of 28 matches and two packages of 14 matches.

One of the packages will include up to 10 live games per season on a Friday night. Live matches are currently broadcast by BT and Sky on Saturday lunchtime and evenings, Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings.

However, there are no plans to allow matches to be televised at 3pm on Saturday afternoons, which some licensees have demanded in order to compete with illegal feeds of matches.

The Premier League said no single buyer will be allowed to acquire more than 126 matches. Sky currently shows 116 matches, with BT Sport screening 38 games.

From the start of the 2015-16 season, BT will show mid-week Champions League and Europa League matches.

The rights auction will take place early next year, with the new deal running for three seasons from August 2016.