WANDERERS’ opening game of next season will be shown live on Sky Sports, even if it is scheduled on a Saturday at 3pm, the EFL has confirmed.

An agreement has been reached with the broadcaster to show ALL games from the Championship, League One and League Two on the weekend of August 10-11, 2024.

The £935million deal struck with Sky will see the company increase live sports coverage by more than 50 per cent and be able to screen up to 100 live events at once using a new service called Sky Sports Plus.

Sky have pledged to minimise the impact on match-going supporters but confirmed that each club will be guaranteed to be streamed 20 times in the first season.

Every match played on the final weekend of the season will also be streamed live, circumnavigating the existing blackout rules because Premier League games will be played on a different day.

Currently, Article 48 of the UEFA statues allows member associations to enforce a two-and-a-half-hour slot where live football is not allowed to be broadcast. The Football Association chooses to observe 2.45pm to 5.15pm.

The rules also state that 50 per cent of games in the Premier League and Championship must be scheduled to kick-off at 3pm for Article 48 to kick in.

Sky have pledged to minimise the impact on match-going supporters and avoid late kick-off changes. Every live fixture to be shown before the FA Cup third round day in January will be selected before the start of the season, with games up to March also selected by November.

The company has said there will be no increase in costs to subscribers and current plans will see them screen 10 games per weekend, typically five from the Championship and five from League One and Two combined.

All midweek games will be broadcast with individual commentary teams.

Wanderers – who will take on Oxford United for a place in the Championship next season in the play-off final at Wembley on May 18 – will learn next season’s fixtures on Wednesday, June 26.

The club will continue to broadcast games for international audiences via Wanderers TV but will be limited to the number they can offer UK audiences, as they are unable to stream the same at the same time as Sky Sports, or within the established blackout.