Football Association in talks with BBC and BT Sport to show all FA Cup games

Backlash to betting website coverage has triggered talks between the main television broadcasters to show all games outside of the Saturday 3pm blackout period

The Football Association is in talks with the BBC and BT Sport over showing all remaining FA Cup games this season outside of Saturday 3pm kick-offs live, following the decision by British betting companies to relinquish their exclusive rights.

Seven of the country’s leading bookmakers purchased rights to show FA Cup games from the agency firm IMG, who in 2-17 struck a lucrative six-year deal with the FA to sell broadcasting rights for the competition until the 2023/24 season concludes.

But after the Betting and Gaming Council announced on Thursday that it did not intend to keep the right exclusive – which had been accused of encouraging gambling by numerous politicians and ex-footballers – the FA has confirmed that they are looking into the prospect of showing all remaining games this season through a combination of the two official broadcasters as well as their own channels.

Currently the BBC and BT Sport share FA Cup rights and will together show seven of the 16 fourth round ties later this month. The FA are now keen to find ways of showing the remaining games where possible, although the football blackout period prevents any football from being shown in the UK between 2:45pm and 5:15pm on a Saturday.

A statement from the Football Association read: "The FA is in discussions with the BBC and BT Sport, our UK broadcast partners for the Emirates FA Cup, to ensure that every Emirates FA Cup match scheduled outside of the Saturday blocked broadcast hours is now made available to watch live on BBC, BT Sport, or on FA platforms.

"Further details will be confirmed in due course."

The move helps to ease the pressure that the governing body found itself under after the betting coverage was highlighted on the same weekend as its own mental health campaign, which saw all third round games kick off a minute late to allow fans to take 60 seconds and reflect on their own wellbeing in a campaign fronted by Prince William.

The FA agreed a deal with sports media rights company IMG three years ago which mandated IMG to sell rights to live streams to betting companies both domestically and globally with the deals becoming effective from the start of the 2018-19 season.

The streams were then only accessible to customers of those companies who held active accounts. The arrangement was described as being "worse than grubby" by Conservative MP Damian Collins, who said that it created an "active incentive to gamble".

The FA was understood to have little room for manoeuvre in withdrawing from the arrangements because of the third party element, but the decision of the betting companies to relinquish exclusivity presented a solution.

A statement from the Betting and Gaming Council's chairman Brigid Simmonds on Thursday on behalf of the companies read: "Our members did not seek exclusivity for the rights to screen FA Cup games. They are therefore happy for IMG to offer the rights to screen these games to the Football Association or another appropriate body so that the games can be viewed for free by the public with immediate effect."

Finding a free platform became the responsibility of the FA, with IMG understood to only be mandated to sell betting streams.

It’s understood that any free platform will need to be geo-blocked to prevent users from outside the UK accessing the streams, in order to protect overseas deals struck by IMG.

FA Cup coverage will need to be geo-blocked for non-UK viewers (Getty)

The FA's 'Heads Up' mental health awareness campaign was promoted ahead of last weekend's third-round ties, which given the link between problem gambling and mental health issues was especially embarrassing for the governing body.

Sports minister Nigel Adams, who joined the chorus of criticism and calls for the FA to reconsider the deal, welcomed the announcement from the betting companies on Thursday, writing on Twitter: "I welcome this statement by BetGameCouncil following my remarks in the Commons this morning. It's now over to FA & IMG to ensure that fans can view these FA Cup games without needing to register for or to place a bet."

Additional reporting by PA