BBC and ITV seal Women’s World Cup broadcast deal with Fifa bringing an end to blackout risk

BBC and ITV have confirmed they will air coverage of this year’s Women’s World Cup bringing an end to the row around a TV deal. 

The tournament’s 64 games in Australia and New Zealand will be shown live on either of the channels with the exception of the final. 

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BBC and ITV will share live coverage of games at this year’s Women’s World Cup including England’s group stage fixtures[/caption]

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Televised coverage of the decider for this summer’s contest, which starts on July 20 in Auckland, New Zealand, will be shown live on both BBC1 and ITV1. 

And both broadcasters will share coverage of the Lionesses’ Group D fixtures against Haiti, Denmark and Norway in Australia. 

Today’s announcement comes weeks after broadcasters in England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France came under pressure to announce a deal. 

Fifa President Gianni Infantino had threatened the prospect of  a TV blackout in Europe’s “Big Five” countries after describing bids as a “slap in the face for women’s football”. 

And last month his remarks were followed by sports ministers in each nations flagging concerns that no agreement to broadcast matches had been reached. 

However yesterday Bloomberg claimed a deal was imminent with BBC and ITV reportedly paying an estimated £8million for the rights to air matches  

BBC director of sport Barbara Slater, said: “The growth of the women’s game is extraordinary, demonstrated by the 28 million who watched BBC coverage of the 2019 Women’s World Cup and the huge audience of 17.4 million who watched our coverage of the Euro 2022 final on TV last summer. 

“In partnership with ITV we are delighted to make this World Cup available to the widest possible audience and free to air.”

ITV Sport director Niall Sloane added: “England’s Lionesses are entering the World Cup Finals as European champions.

“Fans have been able to follow their progress to qualification on ITV through our coverage of the World Cup qualifiers.

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England will be begin their campaign to win the World Cup with a Group D clash with Haiti on July 22[/caption]

“We hope they’ll join us to see all the action from Australia and New Zealand throughout the tournament.”

The joint rights deal will see live audio commentary of the World Cup aired on BBC Radio Five Live and Five Sports Extra 

And ITV will broadcast half of the contest’s clashes across ITV1 and ITV4 with catch-up coverage on ITVX.