The FA will tender the rights to all FA Cup and England home football internationals next month and the commercial broadcasers are expected to bid aggressively in the hope of attracting the high, largely male audience that football delivers.
The FA’s existing four-year deal is worth £80 million a year. FA Cup matches have grown in popularity under the current agreement. Last season, viewing figures for BBC games were up by 26 per cent, while last weekend’s third-round games were 3 per cent up on a year ago, with Arsenal’s victory over Liverpool on Saturday attracting an average of 7.1 million viewers and a peak of 8.5 million.
The BBC also enjoyed record audiences for the Sunday 2pm slot with a peak of 7.1m viewers for the Manchester United v Aston Villa game.
The rights are the only major set of sports rights apart from Euro 2008 that are coming to the market in 2007.
