Where to watch your football in 2013-14

By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

With the Premier League back this weekend, this is a good opportunity to reveal where to tune in to watch your football in 2013-14.

Sky Sports

The home of football has been Sky Sports for the past two decades, and it continues to show the way in 2013-14.  Sky has given themselves a new look, with the introduction of Saturday Night Football to join the regulars of Super Sunday and Monday Night Football.

This season, Sky has added the former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher to its punditry line-up, which also contains Gary Neville, Graeme Souness and Jamie Redknapp.  It will show 116 Barclays Premier League matches – the most in any campaign so far, and has also refreshed its Football League campaign with a new name, FL72.

Alongside its Premier League coverage, Sky will also show 90 matches from the Sky Bet Football League, including all the play-off matches and the three finals at Wembley.  They will show exclusive coverage of the Capital One Cup, with two ties every round and the final in early March. 

On an abroad scale, Sky Sports is the place to watch World Cup qualifiers and international friendlies featuring the Republic of Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.  Upto four games a weekend will be broadcast live from La Liga, including every single match from the seasons of Barcelona and Real Madrid and of course, the UEFA Champions League. 

Every Wednesday match from the group stages is shown live, and 15 of the 16 games per matchday before Christmas.  In 2014, Sky’s coverage continues will 12 second round ties, six of the quarter-final matches, two semi-final clashes and shared coverage of the Champions League final which this year is staged in Lisbon.

For the first time ever, Sky Sports is also free for a day on the opening Saturday of the season.  Freeview customers can watch live coverage of Leeds United v Sheffield Wednesday from the Championship on Saturday lunchtime and the opening Premier League instalment from Wales involving Swansea City and Manchester United. 

BT Sport

There is a new significant player on the football market this season and that is BT Sport.  They launched from their new studios at the Olympic Park in East London a fortnight ago, with the coverage hosted by former BBC Formula One anchor Jake Humphrey. 

Humphrey will be joined throughout the season by the likes of David James, Michael Owen (pictured with Humphrey) and Steve McManaman to present analysis.  Experience in the form of ex-Sky Sports commentator Ian Darke and Darren Fletcher from BBC Radio 5 Live will help the channel settle in during its early weeks, and there is a whole range of football to keep fans excited.

For the first time ever, not all of the first pick of fixtures are exclusive to Sky Sports.  BT Sport has 38 Barclays Premier League matches, include 18 first selections, though it is believed Sky will show all the head-to-heads involving Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal throughout the campaign. 

Nevertheless, BT does have the opening match of the season on Saturday which will see Liverpool entertain Stoke City at Anfield in a Saturday lunchtime kick-off.  Other highlights later on include Tottenham v Chelsea in late September and the first Merseyside derby of the season in mid-November from Goodison Park.

BT Sport also will have access to all the goals in a special highlights show from the Premier League, and will show games from the UEFA Europa League and the FA Cup this season, having bought the UK output of ESPN. 

There is plenty of worldwide football too, with exclusive deals to show leagues in Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Russia and the MLS in America.  BT is the place to follow Pep Guardiola’s new challenge at Bayern Munich, the new rich heavyweights of AS Monaco and PSG in France, and the latest antics of Mario Balotelli in an AC Milan jersey throughout Serie A.

To complete their appeal, BT is also the home of live football from the Women’s Super League as Liverpool and Bristol Academy among others aim to halt Arsenal’s superior domination of the female game.

ITV Sport

It might not be everyone’s favourite, but ITV Sport is the place to see live football for free on terrestrial television, and this will be the last year they can say that.

ITV has first pick of the Tuesday night games in the UEFA Champions League, and will show Tottenham Hotspur and Swansea City throughout their early European journeys in the UEFA Europa League, starting on ITV4 before the winter hiatus.

It is also the home of the FA Cup for the final time this season, as the BBC has won back the rights for 2014-15.  ITV will show two games per round live from round three, including first pick matches plus the best selection of replays until the quarter-finals.  They will show a semi-final exclusively live and joint coverage of the final from Wembley in May.

However, it will remain the home of England internationals for many more years to come.  ITV have just extended their partnership with the Football Association to broadcast the Three Lions for the next five years.  That means English supporters can follow the trials and tribulations of the national team in the remaining World Cup qualifiers for 2014, and the qualification stages for the European Championships in 2016.

And of course next summer, ITV will share live rights with the BBC for the biggest festival of sport which is the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

BBC Sport

It is another quiet year for BBC Sport, whose only live coverage will be the FA Women’s Cup Final and the FIFA World Cup next summer.

However, they will still be showing Saturday night Premier League highlights with Match of the Day, anchored again by Gary Lineker whilst Manish Bhasin continues in his role of hosting the highlights from the Football League in the Football League Show.

They also will continue to show Football Focus in a new time of 12pm with Dan Walker, whilst Jason Mohammed takes over from Gabby Logan to anchor Final Score on a Saturday afternoon.

The rest…

Channel Five’s football days are well and truly over, as they are not showing any live coverage for a second successive year.

British Eurosport’s main focus of attention is on the footballers of tomorrow, with 18 live games a season from the NextGen series.  They will also show live coverage from the Chinese Super League, the Champions League in Asia and several international friendlies throughout the year.

Premier Sports, which isn’t as accessible as many other channels will show 70 live matches from the Argentine Primera Division and coverage of the top league in the Republic of Ireland.

Those who prefer the radio won’t be disappointed with BBC Radio 5 Live, talkSPORT and Absolute Radio continuing to broadcast live Premier League matches throughout the 2013-14 campaign.

For a full list of games to be shown live on TV this season, click here.