English football has been screened on television since 1937, and since the establishment of the Premier League in 1992, it has become a very lucrative industry. As of the 2007-08 season, television rights for the 20-team Premier League are valued at close to £1bn each season. Based on July 2007 exchange rates, this is only marginally less than what the 32-team National Football League receives from its TV contracts. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... A player (wearing the red kit) has penetrated the defence (in the white kit) and is taking a shot at goal. ... For other sports leagues which may be referred to by this name, see List of professional sports leagues. ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... The 2007–08 Premier League season (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the sixteenth since its establishment. ... For other sports leagues which may be referred to by this name, see List of professional sports leagues. ... July 2007 is the seventh month of that year. ... NFL redirects here. ... The television rights to broadcast National Football League (NFL) games are the most lucrative and expensive rights of any sport. ...

History

Early years

The BBC started its television service in 1936, although it was nearly a year before the very first televised match of football was screened – a specially-arranged friendly match between Arsenal and Arsenal Reserves at Highbury on September 16, 1937.^[1] This was followed by the first international match, between England and Scotland on April 9, 1938, and the first televised FA Cup final followed soon after, on April 30 the same year, between Huddersfield Town and Preston North End.^[2] For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... A friendly match is generally a match where there is no competitive value of any kind, and most times quality of play is valued over the result. ... Arsenal Football Club (also known as Arsenal, The Arsenal or The Gunners) are an English professional football club based in Holloway, north London. ... Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in North London, the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. ... is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... First international  Scotland 0 - 0 England (Partick, Scotland; 30 November 1872) Biggest win  Ireland 0 - 13 England (Belfast, Ireland; 18 February 1882) Biggest defeat  Hungary 7 - 1 England (Budapest, Hungary; 23 May 1954) World Cup Appearances 12 (First in 1950) Best result Winners, 1966 European Championship Appearances 7 (First in... First international Scotland 0–0 England  (Partick, Scotland; 30 November 1872) Biggest win Scotland 11–0 Ireland  (Glasgow, Scotland; 23 February 1901) Biggest defeat  Uruguay 7–0 Scotland (Basel, Switzerland; 19 June 1954) World Cup Appearances 8 (First in 1954) Best result Round 1, all European Championship Appearances 2 (First... is the 99th day of the year (100th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the English FA Cup. ... is the 120th day of the year (121st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Huddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. ... Preston North End Football Club are an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the second tier of English league football, The Championship. ...

However, coverage of football television did not expand and for the next two decades the only matches screened were FA Cup finals and the odd England v. Scotland match. The first FA Cup tie other than the final to be shown was a fifth round match between Charlton Athletic and Blackburn Rovers on February 8, 1947, but matches were sparing and only games in London could be broadcast, for technical reasons.^[3] Charlton Athletic Football Club (also known as The Addicks) is a professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. ... Blackburn Rovers Football Club are an English Premier League football club based in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire. ... is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The dawn of regular coverage

The advent of floodlighting led to the creation of the European Cup, designed as a midweek cup competition for the champions of European nations, in 1955. The newly formed British television station ITV saw televised football as an ideal way of gaining a share of the audience from their only rival broadcaster, the BBC. The BBC meanwhile, started showing brief highlights of matches (with a maximum of five minutes) on its Saturday Sport Special programme from 1955, until its cancellation in 1963. This is a current Stagecraft collaboration! Please help improve it to good article standard. ... Champions League Logo The UEFA Champions League is an annual international inter-club football competition between Europes most successful clubs, regarded as the most prestigious club trophy in the sport. ... Independent Television (generally known as ITV, but also as ITV Network) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK. Since 1990 and the Broadcasting...

Though European and cup football proved popular, league football continued to be played untelevised, particularly due to clubs' fears that television would reduce matchday attendances. An early attempt at live league football was made in 1960-61, when ITV agreed a deal worth £150,000 with the Football League to screen 26 matches; the very first live league match was on Saturday September 10, 1960 between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers at Bloomfield Road. The match kicked off at 6:50pm with live coverage starting at 7:30 under the title The Big Game. A major blow to the TV moguls was the absence of big box office draw Stanley Matthews through injury, and the game ended 1-0 in Bolton's favour in front of a half-empty stadium.^[4] However ITV withdrew from the deal after first Arsenal and then Tottenham Hotspur refused them permission to shoot at their matches against Newcastle United and Aston Villa respectively, and the Football League demanded a dramatic increase in player appearance payments.^[3] ITV viewers got the Nat King Cole Show instead, while ironically both matches received highlights coverage from the BBC on Sports Special. The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... The Football League is an organisation representing 72 professional football clubs in England and Wales, and runs the oldest professional football league competition in the world. ... is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... -1... Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional football club based in Horwich, in the Borough of Bolton, North West England. ... Bloomfield Road is the home of English football club Blackpool Football Club. ... Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (February 1, 1915 - February 23, 2000) was a football player. ... Arsenal Football Club (also known as Arsenal, The Arsenal or The Gunners) are an English professional football club based in Holloway, north London. ... Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is an English professional football club which plays in the Premier League. ... Newcastle United Football Club (also known as The Magpies or The Toon) are an English professional football team based in Newcastle upon Tyne. ... Aston Villa redirects here. ... Nathaniel Adams Coles, known professionally as Nat King Cole (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965) was a popular American singer, songwriter, and jazz pianist. ...

However ITV moved again into football, albeit tentatively, in 1962 when Anglia Television launched Match of the Week, which showed highlights of matches from around East Anglia. The first match shown was Ipswich Town's 3-2 defeat at the hands of Wolves at Portman Road on September 22, 1962.^[5] Tyne Tees Television in the North East of England began broadcasting local matches soon after under the title Shoot. League football went national in 1964, when the BBC introduced Match of the Day which showed highlights of league matches from around the country, though until 1983 the identity of the teams playing was kept secret until the programme aired, to avoid possibly damaging attendances. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Norfolk and Suffolk, the core area of East Anglia. ... Ipswich Town Football Club (also known as Ipswich, The Blues, Town or The Tractor Boys) are an English professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk. ... Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. are an English football club playing at Molineux Stadium. ... Portman Road is the home ground of English Football club Ipswich Town. ... is the 265th day of the year (266th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television contractor for North East England. ... Also Nintendo emulator: 1964 (emulator). ... For the Doctor Who novel, see Match of the Day (Doctor Who). ...

The World Cup

There was live coverage of World Cup football on UK screens in 1954 and 1958 - however only selected matches were available. In 1954, Kenneth Wolstenholme provided commentary on the few televised matches for BBC from Switzerland - including the quarter-final between Hungary and Brazil. A thunderstorm over the Alps cut off the picture and many irate viewers wrote in to complain that the BBC had pulled the plug.^[6] The 1958 tournament in Sweden saw a greater range of matches thanks to the new Eurovision network; the BBC and ITV both screened matches, although the networks had to overcome opposition to the coverage from the Scottish FA, who were worried that attendances at Junior football matches may be hit.^[7] The 1962 World Cup in Chile was covered in delayed form by the BBC with film having to be carried by air via the United States back to Britain. Matches were generally seen three days after they were played, though every match was covered by the BBC with commentary. For the club competition, see FIFA Club World Cup. ... The 1954 Football World Cup was held in Switzerland. ... In June 1954, the FIFA congress in Bern, Switzerland decided to award the 1958 Football World Cup to Sweden. ... Kenneth Wolstenholme, DFC (born Worsley, Lancashire,. July 17, 1920; died March 25, 2002) was the original football commentator for BBC television in the 1950s and 1960s, responsible for the games most famous commentary phrase. ... A thunderstorm, also called an electrical storm or lightning storm, is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its attendant thunder produced from a cumulonimbus cloud. ... The Alps is the collective name for one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east, through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west. ... The term Eurovision has several meanings: technically, the Eurovision Network created by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). ... The Scottish Football Association (SFA) is the governing body for the sport of football in Scotland. ... // Overview In 1962 the Football World Cup returned to the continent of South America. ...

With intercontinental communications satellites in their infancy and videotape a new advance, the first tournament to gain widespread international live coverage was the 1966 tournament, which was held in England. The tournament, which England won, increased the popularity of the sport. With more football viewers than ever, Match of the Day thrived - switching from BBC Two to BBC One to reach a wider audience. ITV's regional coverage had also expanded during this period with London weekend company ATV launching Star Soccer in October 1965, Southern Television's Southern Soccer and ABC's World of Soccer also began to appear regularly in the TV Times Sunday schedules. London Weekend Television's The Big Match started in 1968, and eventually the entire ITV network's football coverage would be broadcast under its title. Qualifying countries The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from July 11 to July 30. ... First international  Scotland 0 - 0 England (Partick, Scotland; 30 November 1872) Biggest win  Ireland 0 - 13 England (Belfast, Ireland; 18 February 1882) Biggest defeat  Hungary 7 - 1 England (Budapest, Hungary; 23 May 1954) World Cup Appearances 12 (First in 1950) Best result Winners, 1966 European Championship Appearances 7 (First in... For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 2. ... For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 1. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Southern Television was the first ITV holder for the south and south east of England from 30 August 1958 until 1 January 1982. ... Associated British Corporation (otherwise known as ABC Television or ABC Weekend TV) was one of a number of commercial television companies set up in the 1950s by cinema chains in an attempt to safeguard their business by getting involved in television which was taking away their cinema audiences. ... The TV Times is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Big Match was a British football television programme, which screened on ITV regularly between 1968 and 1992 (the last four years were under the title The Match), and less regularly after that. ...

Rise of live League coverage

The demand for football grew through the 1970s and early 1980s, and the decision to start screening live league matches was almost inevitable; a deal was struck for the start of the 1983-84 season and the first live league match since 1960 was screened on ITV, between Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest, on October 2, 1983. Spurs would also feature in the BBC's first live league match at Manchester United on a Friday night a few weeks later. // First Division Liverpool had a great first season under the management of Joe Fagan as they wrapped up their third successive league title and the 15th in their history. ... Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is an English professional football club which plays in the Premier League. ... Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English professional football club based at The City Ground in Nottingham, England. ... is the 275th day of the year (276th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... Manchester Uniteds emblem Manchester United F.C. (often abbreviated to Man United or just Man U, pronounced man-yoo) is an English football club based at Old Trafford in Greater Manchester. ...

By the late 1980s the value of live TV coverage had rocketed; while a two-year contract for rights in 1983 had cost just £5.2m, the four-year contract exclusively landed by ITV in 1988 cost £44m, a fourfold increase per year. There was now a situation where live football was on TV almost every Sunday afternoon from about November onwards, as ITV screened top-flight football most weeks and the BBC had the rights to the FA Cup that occupied other weekends. For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... This article is about the English FA Cup. ...

With top flight football proving particularly lucrative, in 1992 the clubs of the Football League First Division voted to quit the league en masse and set up their own league, the Premier League. They eventually opted to agree a deal with Sky Sports rather than ITV or the BBC, meaning leading live league football was no longer available on terrestrial television (although matches from the First Division (previously Second Division) continued to be shown for a time by ITV). From 1889 until 1992, this was the highest division overall of organized football in England. ... For other sports leagues which may be referred to by this name, see List of professional sports leagues. ... Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of 9 channels. ... Terrestrial television (also known as over-the-air, OTA or broadcast television) was the traditional method of television broadcast signal delivery prior to the advent of cable and satellite television. ... From the 1992-1993 to the 2003-2004 season, the Football League First Division was the highest division of The Football League and the second-highest division in the overall English football league system. ...

Football on television today

Coverage of Premier League now dominates football on English television, especially financially; the contracts agreed between the league and broadcasters BSkyB in 1992 and 1997 were worth £191.5m and £670m respectively. However, the European Union objected to what it saw as a monopoly on television rights and demanded the 2007 contract be split into separate packages; eventually Sky won four of the six available packages, with the other two were taken by Setanta Sports. British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB - formerly two companies, Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting, which merged) is a company that operates the most popular subscription television service in the Ireland. ... This article is about the economic term. ... Setanta Sports (pronunciation: ) is an international sports broadcaster, operating 12 channels in 24 countries. ...

When Sky won the rights, it was the first time live football had been regularly screened (usually Sundays and Mondays in the early years) throughout the season, as previous restrictions on the number of games had meant ITV had tended to begin to show matches (bar the odd early-season glamour game) in October or November and focus on the title run-in.

See also: Premier League media coverage

For other sports leagues which may be referred to by this name, see List of professional sports leagues. ...

The future

On November 6, 2007 it was announced that Sky Sports and the BBC will show live Football League matches in England and Wales from the 2009-2010 season. ^[8] 10 live Football League Championship matches will be shown on BBC TV meaning live league football will return to British terrestrial television for the first time since 1993.

Kickoff times

The Premier League is virtually unique in domestic football in Europe in its agreement over kick-off times. In an agreement with the Football Association, it does not allow live TV broadcasts or the release of clips on mobile phones at the traditional English kick-off time (Saturday 3pm); Scottish league games are also not televised during the same window (2:45-5:15). It is claimed that this ensures that fans still attend lower league games. However, these broadcasting restrictions can be circumvented to some extent either by subscribing to overseas satellite broadcasters (Setanta broadcasts a live game to its viewers in Ireland; thus creating somewhat of a grey market), or through various streaming networks on the internet. Also, live radio broadcasts are permitted, both nationally and locally; these may be streamed on the internet in many cases. In recent years, Sky Sports has shown 3:00 games on tape delay through the Football First show. 3:00 games have sometimes aired on non-Saturday holidays. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... The Football Association (The FA) is the governing body of football in England and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of 9 channels. ... Football First is an interactive television programme which offers Sky Sports viewers extended highlights of every Premiership match played on the day, which fans can also choose which games they would like to watch, just after the full match. ...

The Premier League and Sky maintain that whilst grey market viewing of games is not illegal on the part of the viewer^{[citation needed]}, it is illegal for anyone (such as a public house) to make such services available. This has in the past lead to heavy fines for public houses in the United Kingdom which have shown these games in their establishments. More recently, the legality of such fines has been disputed, and a number of Crown Court cases have been reported in which publicans successfully challenged the Premier League's position.^[9] Pub redirects here. ...

In any event, each weekend, as many as five Premier League games kick-off at other times of day for the purpose of being televised. All of them air live either on Sky or Setanta (starting in 2007). The main kick-off times for TV games are 12:45 and 5:15pm on Saturdays, 1:30 and 4:00pm on Sundays, and 8:00pm on Mondays. Additional Sunday games may kick-off before 1:30 or at 3:00 as circumstances warrant, such as minimizing fixture congestion for teams competing in Europe. Generally, no local rivalry games will kick-off at 4:00 on Sundays to minimize the potential for crowd trouble.

Notes

is the 234th day of the year (235th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 234th day of the year (235th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Kenneth Wolstenholme, DFC (born Worsley, Lancashire,. July 17, 1920; died March 25, 2002) was the original football commentator for BBC television in the 1950s and 1960s, responsible for the games most famous commentary phrase. ... is the 102nd day of the year (103rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 220th day of the year (221st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Horrie, Chris (2002). Premiership, Pocket Books, ISBN 0-7434-4065-X
• Fact Sheet 8: British Football on Television (Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research, University of Leicester, 2002)