Luton face a number of earlier kick-offs in the Championship as EFL announce new TV deal

Luton Town could see a number of their Saturday fixtures moved to 12.30pm kick-off times after the launch of a new five-year broadcast deal between the EFL and Sky Sports was announced yesterday.

With the Hatters’ opening day clash at home to Burnley already picked for TV coverage, Rob Edwards’ side will find out in the coming days whether they have any more matches switched to be broadcast live, allowing supporters to make their travel plans as early as possible. A statement from the EFL said: “From 2024/25, the EFL and its Clubs will embark on a record domestic rights deal with broadcaster Sky Sports worth £935m over a five-year period.

"Over 1,000 of the EFL’s 1,891 games across the Sky Bet EFL, Carabao Cup and Bristol Street Motors Trophy will be broadcast, with every one of the 72 EFL Clubs to be featured live on Sky more than 20 times this season. Within seven days of today’s EFL Fixture Release, all matches selected for broadcast for the period to the end of September will be announced, and before a ball is kicked of the 2024/25 season, all TV selections will be confirmed for the period up to the FA Cup third round in early January.

"This is a landmark commitment, providing fans and clubs up to five months’ notice, an increase from the five weeks' notice given across the majority of the 2023/24 season. In line with the uplift in matches, weekends where all divisions and the Premier League are scheduled to play, 10 regular weekend games across the three divisions will be broadcast, including seven games at 12.30pm on a Saturday.

"This will include up to five Sky Bet Championship matches and up to five matches across Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two. Sky Bet EFL fixtures will be broadcast via either an existing Sky Sports channel or Sky Sports+ - a new way for fans to discover and stream live sport. Integrated into the current Sky TV experience and the revamped Sky Sports mobile app, Sky Sports+ is available at no extra cost for subscribers of the full Sky Sports package. All televised fixtures will also be available on streaming service NOW.”