Daily Mail: BBC strike new FA Cup TV deal with TNT Sports after fending off competition from ITV - in major boost to their sport coverage

Story from Daily Mail:

The BBC will continue to show live FA Cup matches for four years from the 2025/26 season after agreeing a deal with main rights holder TNT Sports.

While the contract has yet to be signed Mail Sport has learned that the BBC has beaten ITV to the secondary live rights package in a deal that will give the corporation live coverage of two FA Cup matches from each round up to the quarter-finals, one semi-final and the final.

TNT bought the rights from the FA in a record four-year deal worth £264million last month, with the contract stipulating that games in each round must be made available on free-to-air television.

While TNT could have shown matches on YouTube or their freeview channel Quest it was always their intention to seek a public service broadcaster as their rights partner.

The BBC have had live rights to a portion of the FA Cup since 2014, with their coverage shared with ITV for the past four years, and retaining them will be a major boost for a sports department that has lost rights to Formula One, the Grand National and the Open Championship over the last decade.

While a few details remain to be agreed it is understood that the deal will also give BBC rights for a Match of the Day highlights programme.

Although it was negotiated by TNT the FA will also be pleased with the deal as the BBC’s heavy promotion across TV, radio, online and social media platforms will ensure the FA Cup continues to receive wide exposure.

The governing body’s decision to sell the main rights package to a subscription channel after four years of exclusive matches on BBC and ITV was criticised last month, but in reality a mixed broadcasting model has been the norm for the competition for most of the last 30 years.

TNT's predecessor, BT Sport, shared the rights with the BBC from 2014 to 2021, while other subscription services including Sky Sports, Setanta and ESPN have previously held live FA Cup rights.

The £264m FA Cup deal is one of the FA's biggest sources of revenue, which they use to fund grassroots football as well as running Wembley and England teams across all age groups.

In another significant change all FA Cup ties from the third round that do not kick off during the Saturday afternoon broadcast blackout will be televised live.

As part of the deal TNT have also secured live rights for the Community Shield and the FA Youth Cup final.