Six games in five days to appear live on Sky Sports
The 2018/19 fixtures for all three divisions of the Sky Bet EFL are now available to view online by visiting EFL.com or individual Club media channels.
From 9am this morning, supporters of all 72 Clubs are able to find out their team’s schedule for the whole of the upcoming campaign, which kicks off with six matches being broadcast live in the opening five days of the season. Frank Lampard’s first game as Derby County manager is set to open proceedings live on Sky Sports.
His Rams side will travel to the Madejski Stadium on Friday 3 August to take on Paul Clement’s Reading, ahead of the opening Saturday of the season, when two of the 33 matches taking place will also be screened live on Sky Sports.
Throughout the course of the 2018/19 season, Sky Sports will exclusively show 127 live matches from the Sky Bet EFL season - including the Play-Offs - as well as 15 matches from the Carabao Cup and at least three from the Checkatrade Trophy.
Opening Sky Bet EFL matches selected for Sky Sports
- Friday 3 August Reading v Derby County - 8pm
- Saturday 4 August Sunderland v Charlton Athletic - 12.30pm
- Saturday 4 August Sheffield United v Swansea City - 5.30pm
- Sunday 5 August Leeds United v Stoke City - 4.30pm
- Monday 6 August Hull City v Aston Villa - 7.45pm
- Tuesday 7 August Nottingham Forest v West Bromwich Albion - 7.45pm*
*Nottingham Forest’s match against West Bromwich Albion has been moved to Tuesday 7 August from Tuesday 22 August to avoid a clash with the Test match taking place at Trent Bridge between England and India.
iFOLLOW
Following iFollow’s successful introduction in 2017/18 for supporters based overseas, enhancements are being introduced to the live streaming platform ahead of the start of the new campaign at no extra cost to viewers.
Improved production values are being implemented across the online broadcasting service, providing Clubs with the scope to introduce bespoke commentary as well as on-screen graphics. Some midweek Championship matches will also benefit from a four camera setup while additional enhancements to iFollow include more in-game statistics via the app, mobile/desktop websites and an improved match centre.
Prices for the platform have been frozen at £110 for the season for overseas viewers, and International Season Pass subscriptions are on sale as of today. Supporters can find out details on how to subscribe by visiting your Club’s website.
In a second development, and in what is a first for English football, some Sky Bet EFL matches will also be made available to watch to supporters within the UK and Ireland throughout the 2018/19 season via iFollow
This development has been made possible due to the new broadcast agreement with Sky which was agreed last year, whereby EFL Clubs have been granted the rights to stream games to a domestic audience, in addition to their followers overseas which has been available since the start of 2017/18.
EFL Clubs will be able to live-stream in the UK and Ireland any league match via their respective iFollow (or equivalent) service that takes place outside the blocked hours of 14.45-17.15 on Saturday afternoons and that is not broadcast live on Sky Sports. Fixtures taking place on Bank Holidays or Easter will be unavailable for streaming. Sky Sports will have the right to stream the same Championship fixtures to subscribers across their interactive and digital services.
Details of how to access EFL matches domestically will be announced in due course.
TV SELECTIONS
As with 2017/18, the EFL and broadcast partner Sky Sports have again committed to give Clubs and supporters at least five weeks’ notice ahead of any EFL League matches being selected for live television coverage.
In a small change to the policy from 2017/18, the EFL has outlined the dates when any changes will be announced to the public via the EFL’s digital and social channels, rather than the dates when Clubs will be initially notified. The dates will again ensure any fixture changes are announced with a minimum of five weeks’ notice of the fixture taking place in order to give EFL supporters as much time as is possible to allow for any alterations to travel plans that may be required.
In addition, an amendment to this policy was made in March 2018, whereby a minimum of three weeks’ notice was put in place for the penultimate weekend of the season in order to ensure the most appropriate matches are picked for broadcast.
CARABAO CUP
In addition to the opening Sky Bet EFL matches, the following ties from the Carabao Cup Round One draw have also been selected for broadcast live on Sky Sports.
- Tuesday 14 August Yeovil Town v Aston Villa - 7.45pm
- Thursday 16 August Sunderland v Sheffield Wednesday - 7.45pm