Yahoo Finance Some FA Cup games to stay on BBC in boost for free-to-air sport
The BBC has retained live TV rights to the FA Cup after agreeing a new four-year partnership with the competition’s main broadcaster TNT Sports.
From 2025-26 it will show 14 live games a year – two per round until the quarter-finals, plus one semi-final and the final – as well as highlights.
The deal is a boost to the corporation, which will be able to boast broadcast coverage of the three main men’s club competitions.
It will add Champions League highlights for the first time next season, joining the BBC’s long-standing Premier League show Match of the Day.
Delighted
“We are delighted that the BBC will continue as one of our Emirates FA Cup broadcast partners, under this new deal with TNT Sports, said Mark Bullingham, FA Chief Executive.
“It was always our intention to ensure that this very special competition would be accessible for everyone, and this new broadcast partnership will enable fans to see more of its matches live than ever before from the start of the 2025-26 season, across both TNT Sports and free-to-air on the BBC.
“The BBC has told many of the magical and memorable stories that only the Emirates FA Cup can create, and we look forward to making even more history together in the years ahead.”
TNT, which replaced BT Sport last year after Warner Bros Discovery acquired the network, currently holds most FA Cup rights, sharing some with ITV and the BBC.
Our ambition is to make more of the live Emirates FA Cup action available to fans than ever before
Trojan Paillot, SVP Sports Rights Acquisitions and Syndication WBD Sports Europe
Brilliant for BBC
“This partnership for the next four years is brilliant news and, alongside our recent Premier League extension and Uefa Champions League highlights coming this year, means that BBC Sport will deliver fans top class analysis, commentary and coverage of the biggest football competitions free to air and accessible for all,” said BBC Sport’s interim director Philip Bernie.
Trojan Paillot, SVP Sports Rights Acquisitions and Syndication WBD Sports Europe, said: “TNT Sports will broadcast every single game outside of 3pm kick-offs, starting from the first round, ensuring fans can watch more of the Emirates FA Cup than ever before all in one place.
“Our ambition is to make more of the live Emirates FA Cup action available to fans than ever before, so the BBC are an outstanding partner to ensure that alongside more games we also make the competition as widely available as possible.”
It comes amid fierce debate over the future of the FA Cup, the world’s oldest knockout competition in club football.
The FA provoked widespread outrage last month when it announced it would scrap replays from the first round proper from next season.
