Yorkshire derby chosen as important milestone game for EFL

Leeds United's Yorkshire derby against Sheffield Wednesday has been chosen as a milestone game as the Football League returns to terrestrial television after more than a decade away.

The January 19 game at Elland Road will be shown live on ITV1 as part of an agreement with Sky Sports to provide free-to-air coverage of Championship games.

The deal has seen ITV given access to simulcast one leg of each League Cup semi-final.

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Middlesbrough's Tees-Wear derby against Sunderland on February 3 is also part of it, though their game will only be shown on ITV4 and ITVX.

BIG DRAW: Leeds United v Sheffield Wednesday is traditionally one of the Football League's biggest games when both clubs are in the ChampionshipBIG DRAW: Leeds United v Sheffield Wednesday is traditionally one of the Football League's biggest games when both clubs are in the Championship
BIG DRAW: Leeds United v Sheffield Wednesday is traditionally one of the Football League's biggest games when both clubs are in the Championship

Football League matches have not been shown on free-to-air television since an agreement with the BBC ended in the 2011-12 season.

Free-to-air coverage is hugely important to British sports. Although the Premier League has been shown live on satellite television since its inception, weekly highlights programmes have shrewdly always been shown on BBC or ITV, and coverage of international tournaments are reserved for the terrestrial broadcasters.

The Football League have not lost sight of that in the five-year £935m broadcast deal which started this season, allowing them to slightly reduce the huge financial gap to the Premier League at the cost of far fewer Saturday 3pm kick-offs.

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"We are delighted that this agreement between the League, ITV and Sky Sports will open them up to an even wider audience, and would like to extend our thanks to both partners for making this possible," said former Leeds United chief executive Trevor Birch, who now does that job for the Football League.

The Sunday Elland Road game kicks off at noon.

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