The FA Cup will be broadcast exclusively free-to-air in the UK from 2021 after commercial broadcaster confirmed a new four-year deal for the competition, reports SportBusiness.
ITV will share coverage of the FA Cup with public-service broadcaster the BBC, which has been showing the competition since 2014. ITV will replace pay-television broadcaster BT Sport as the FA's second rights partner for the competition.
Under the agreement, ITV will show live coverage of more than 20 matches each season from the 2021-22 to 2024-25 campaigns. The deal also includes live coverage of the Community Shield.
ITV will have first and fourth pick of matches in the second round, fourth round and the quarter-finals, as well as second and third picks for the first, third and fifth rounds, and second pick of the semi-finals. ITV and the BBC will share coverage of the final.
The deal has been signed after the BBC in March agreed a new four-year deal for the FA Cup covering the same period. The BBC will air up to 18 live matches across the competition each season, an increase on the previous deal.
It will mark the first time that FA Cup rights have been shared by the BBC and ITV in over 30 years.
