Sky Sports confirm first Championship TV picks with Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United involved

Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday have both seen their opening weekend Championship fixtures selected for television broadcast. The EFL confirmed all of the 72 teams’ fixtures on Wednesday, with clubs already able to start planning their schedules, while fans can already pencil in their away trips for the new season.

Wednesday were handed a home clash to kick off the season, though they were also handed an extra day’s wait compared to most clubs, facing Plymouth Argyle at Hillsborough on Sunday, August 11. Meanwhile, the Blades kick off their first season back in the Championship away from home, albeit fans won’t have to travel much more than two hours, facing Preston North End at Deepdale on Friday, August 9.

In an EFL first, and as part of increased broadcasting of games by Sky Sports, all of the first weekend’s fixtures will be shown live on Sky Sports, mostly via the red button. But while United’s Friday night game will be on the red button, Wednesday’s Sunday clash will be broadcast as a standalone fixture.

A Sky Sports and EFL announcement read: “The 2024/25 fixtures for the Sky Bet EFL have been confirmed, and in a landmark first, all Sky Bet EFL fixtures for the opening weekend will be broadcast live on Sky Sports to kick-off the new season.”

On broadcast selections for the rest of August and September, the statement added: “Within seven days of today’s EFL Fixture Release, all matches selected for broadcast for the period to the end of September will be announced, and before a ball is kicked of the 2024/25 season, all TV selections will be confirmed for the period up to the FA Cup third round in early January. This is a landmark commitment, providing fans and clubs up to five months’ notice, an increase from the five weeks' notice given across the majority of the 2023/24 season.

“In line with the uplift in matches, weekends where all divisions and the Premier League are scheduled to play, 10 regular weekend games across the three divisions will be broadcast, including 7 games at 12.30pm on a Saturday. This will include up to five Sky Bet Championship matches and up to five matches across Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two.

“Sky Bet EFL fixtures will be broadcast via either an existing Sky Sports channel or Sky Sports+ - a new way for fans to discover and stream live sport. Integrated into the current Sky TV experience and the revamped Sky Sports mobile app, Sky Sports+ is available at no extra cost for subscribers of the full Sky Sports package. All televised fixtures will also be available on streaming service NOW.”

Wednesday and United are likely to be popular with Sky Sports this season, with the Blades likely to be one of the promotion favourites, while the Owls attracted plenty of selections at the back-end of last season. As was the case last season, all mid-week fixtures will be broadcast on Sky Sports anyway, with a main television selection plus a red button service available showing the rest of the fixtures.