Preston North End's 2024/25 Championship season gets underway in just under a week's time as they face Sheffield United at Deepdale.
The usual start date for most clubs is on a Saturday, but North End's match against the Blades was moved to the Friday in what is a feast of football. All games on the opening weekend of the EFL season are being streamed, and North End will have the privilege of being the first Championship game to be shown on Sky Sports +.
Sky Sports + is a new service which is effectively replacing iFollow and all official club media. It will come as no extra cost to Sky Sports subscribers, and there are day passes available for those who don't have a subscription with the league broadcaster.
More EFL games than ever before will be shown as a result of a £935m deal between the EFL and Sky Sports over a five-year period. Five Championship games each weekend will be shown with games on a Friday night, as well as a few at lunch time on Saturday.
As part of the arrangement, Sky Sports had to make their broadcast picks from now until the third round of the FA Cup. In previous years the same teams would be on each week and there would be a real disparity as to who would be shown. The introduction of lunch time kick offs on Sky Sports + should mean a fairer deal.
Earlier in the week, it was announced that six North End fixtures would be moved for broadcast purposes. Some will be on the actual Sky Sports channels and then others will be on Sky Sports +.
After all the television picks were locked in from now until mid-January, we've taken a look to see how many times a team has been chosen for broadcast this season. The figures include how many games are on Sky Sports + and which are on TV.
