LED, LCD and plasma TV: Free TV and pay TV services Live football on TV
Live coverage of most domestic league matches are available only on pay TV services such as Sky Sports and ESPN.
Some cup games are shown live on free-to-air channels, and you can watch highlights of the Premier League and the Championship games on the BBC.
Premier League football
Sky has won the rights to show 115 live Premier League games from 2010/11 through to the end of 2012/13 while ESPN will show 23 Premier League games a season over the same period.
If you want to watch lots of games, but don’t mind if they’re not live, BT Vision shows 242 pre-recorded football games in full from 10pm on match days. The BBC’s Match of the Day programme continues to show highlights for free.
BT Vision is only available to BT broadband or home phone customers. You can find out how BT’s customers rated it for satisfaction in the Which? phone, internet and TV package review.
You can watch Premier League matches in HD on ESPN with Sky and Virgin
Premier League football in HD
Sky Sports and ESPN are available in high definition (HD). You’ll be able to watch Sky’s HD coverage only if you have a Sky Digital subscription. ESPN’s HD coverage is available with either a Sky or Virgin subscription.
Extra monthly fees apply if you want to watch HD channels on Sky and Virgin and you'll need to make sure you've got an HD-ready TV.
FA Cup and Carling Cup
ITV has the broadcast rights for FA Cup football games, including the final. Sky has the rights to show live Carling Cup games and highlights are available on the BBC. The BBC also has live coverage of the semi-final legs and the Carling Cup Final.
Coca Cola Football League
Sky owns the rights to broadcast live Football League matches and the BBC shows highlights. BT Vision is showing 125 pre-recorded Carling Cup and Football League games from 24 hours after kickoff.
Free UEFA and FIFA football
ITV and Five hold the rights to some UEFA Champions League and Europa League matches.You can watch these games for free on Freeview and Freesat. The European Championships and the World Cup finals are protected events, and have to be made available on terrestrial TV.
UEFA Champions League
The top four teams at the end of the Premier League season and the top two in the Scottish Premier League qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Sky and ITV have shared rights for coverage of live Champions League games until 2012. Sky has exclusive rights to Tuesday night matches, while ITV gets first pick of the Wednesday night fixtures. The Champions League final is shown on both ITV and Sky Sports.
UEFA Europa League (UEFA Cup)
The UEFA Cup has been rebranded as the Europa League. Three teams from England and three from Scotland qualify for the Europa League. Teams qualify either by winning a domestic cup competition or by finishing just behind the Champions League qualifiers in the league. ITV and Five share the live rights to Europa League football, so you can watch the competition with most digital TV providers. From this season, Five will be showing the final previously shown on ITV.
Interested in buying a new TV? We've tested hundreds of TVs so find out what our experts think about each brand - including Sony, Panasonic, Samsung and LG - in the Which? guide to the best TV brands.
