How to watch football this season
As Setanta and BT join the Premier League party this season, fans of British football now have more ways than ever to watch football if they cannot travel to a game.
And it is not only on television, with action also available on websites and mobile phones.
But where and when you can you watch 'the beautiful game'? And how much does it all cost?
BBC
WHAT HAVE THEY GOT?
The BBC will continue to show
Premier League
highlights on Match of the Day on Saturday evenings (repeated on Sunday mornings) and MOTD2 on Sunday evenings.
In a new development this season, Match of the Day (on Saturday and Sunday) and MOTD2 will be broadcast simultaneously on the BBC Sport website (UK only).
The BBC also has first, third and fourth choice of live
FA Cup
ties from rounds three to six, first choice of the semi-finals and live coverage of the final.
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BBC SPORT EDITORS' BLOG
MOTD editor Paul Armstrong
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England
's home games will be shown live, including Euro 2008 qualifiers and the friendly against Germany on 22 August, and there will be highlights of all England's other games next season.
BBC Two Scotland will carry television highlights of the
Clydesdale Bank Premier League
on Wednesdays at 2200. The highlights packs will also be available on the BBC Sport website. For contractual reasons most highlights will be available online on a Sunday evening and some on a Monday night. The highlights will be online for up to seven days.
Viewers in Scotland can also catch the
CIS Cup
live, along with coverage of
Scotland's
Euro 2008 qualifiers, the
Scottish Cup
and selected European games.
HOW CAN I GET IT?
Via terrestrial or any freeview, cable or satellite package.
BT
WHAT HAVE THEY GOT?
BT Vision customers who sign up for the sport package will be able to watch 242
Premier League
games on demand from 2200 on the evening of the game.
The package also includes 125
Football League
and
Carling Cup
matches, available at midnight the day after the game.
BT Vision customers can also sign up for Setanta Sports (see below) to watch an extra 46 live Premier League games for an additional fee.
HOW CAN I GET IT?
You must be a BT broadband customer to receive a BT Vision box, which combines Freeview and a digital recording facility. Then you need to sign up for the sport package (£4 a month) or you can buy games on a one-off basis (£1.99).
CLUB CHANNELS/WEBSITES
WHAT HAVE THEY GOT?
Chelsea TV, MUTV, Liverpool TV (which launches in September), Celtic TV and Rangers TV have coverage of a host of their league and cup matches in delay.
Most official club websites offer either full games in delay or highlights for a subscription fee.
HOW CAN I GET IT?
Chelsea TV is available for a separate subscription to Sky Digital customers, while MUTV is available to Sky Digital and Virgin Media customers, again for a separate subscription. Liverpool TV, Celtic TV and Rangers TV are included in the Setanta sports package.
FIVE
WHAT HAVE THEY GOT?
Five plans to show live
Uefa Cup
matches involving British teams as well as
Major League Soccer
live coverage and highlights in David Beckham's first season in Los Angeles.
HOW CAN I GET IT?
Via terrestrial or any freeview, cable or satellite package.
ITV
WHAT HAVE THEY GOT?
ITV is set to continue its
Champions League
coverage and will show two live matches on Tuesdays, as well as highlights, and will also cover the
Uefa Cup
live from the quarter-finals onwards.
All that is also available online, with a fee payable for the Champions League live action.
Domestically, ITV will show highlights of the
Championship
and the
Carling Cup
.
HOW CAN I GET IT?
Via terrestrial or any freeview, cable or satellite package.
SETANTA SPORTS
WHAT HAVE THEY GOT?
This season's newcomers will screen 46
Premier League
games, including all 1715 kick-offs on a Saturday and many of those on a Monday night.
The channel, which has signed up Des Lynam as part of its team, has just revealed its first 19 live games, which include Manchester United v Sunderland and Newcastle v Tottenham.
It also offers 60
Scottish Premier League
games, including every Old Firm derby, and 79 matches from the
Blue Square Premier
.
HOW CAN I GET IT?
Setanta is available to customers of Sky Digital, BT Vision, Virgin Media and Top Up TV as well as some viewers with Freeview. It costs from £8 a month. It comes free with Virgin Media's biggest package. You can also subscribe via broadband for £7.99 a month.
SKY SPORTS
WHAT HAVE THEY GOT?
Sky Sports' live coverage of the
Premier League
will include kick-offs on Sundays at 1600 and Saturdays at 1245.
It will also broadcast the majority of 1330 kick-offs on Sundays and some midweek evening and Bank Holiday games.
Its domestic coverage also includes highlights of a further 242 Premier Leagues games in delay via the red button, 70 live matches from the
Football League
and others from the
FA Cup
,
Carling Cup
,
Scottish Cup
,
Johnstone's Paint Trophy
and the end of season
play-offs
.
Sky Sports is also the place for all
Champions League
matches on Wednesday night and up to six on Tuesday.
It has all
England
's competitive away games and some away friendlies, along with coverage of
Scotland,
Wales
and
Northern Ireland
in Euro 2008 qualifying.
From this season, Sky's live Premier League matches will also be broadcast on mobile phones via Sky Mobile TV.
The broadcaster has also launched the 24-7 Football service, which offers, among other things, Premier League goal clips as games are ongoing (except between 1445 and 1715 on Saturdays) and post-match highlights of Premier League and Champions League matches.
HOW CAN I GET IT?
Sky Sports television is available through Sky Digital, Virgin Media and Tiscali TV, costing from £26 a month.
Sky Mobile TV is available to Vodafone and Orange customers for £5 a month. And 24-7 Football is available on the T-Mobile, 3 and O2 networks at £5 a month or on a clip-by-clip basis.
VIRGIN MEDIA
In another new development for this season, Virgin Media's website will offer free highlights from the
Premier League
and
Football League
.
They will be available in five-minute packages, usually from midnight on the day after the games.
The Football League highlights will also be available on Virgin mobile.