English football on television

English football on television
Court	European Court of Justice
Citation(s)	C-403/08 C-429/08

English football on television has been broadcast since 1938. Since the establishment of the Premier League in 1992, English football has become a very lucrative industry. As of the 2013-14 season, domestic television rights for the 20-team Premier League are worth £1 billion a year. The league generates €2.2 billion per year in domestic and international television rights.

See Sports broadcasting contracts in the United Kingdom#Association football

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 16 September 1937. This was followed by the first televised international match, between England and Scotland on 9 April 1938, and the first televised FA Cup final followed soon after, on 30 April the same year, between Huddersfield Town and Preston North End.

In October 1946, the first live televised football match was broadcast by the BBC from Barnet's home ground Underhill. Twenty minutes of the game against Wealdstone were televised in the first half and thirty five minutes of the second half before it became too dark.

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 8 February 1947, but matches were sparing and only games in London could be broadcast, for technical reasons.

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