Premier League, FA Cup and Football League latest updatesLIVE
Live reaction to the Champions League TV deal ahead of Premier League, Football League and FA Cup action.
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- 1213:EUROPEAN FOOTBALLAway from the Premier League there are plenty of games taking place across Europe. Bayern Munich are going for a record-breaking 37th game unbeaten in the Bundesliga while over in Spain Real Madrid host Real Sociedad.In France, Paris St-Germain can strengthen their hold on first place in Ligue 1 as they take on Nice. That gives me as good an excuse as any to link toZlatan Ibrahimovic's latest tweet, in all its third-person glory: "Nice are visiting Paris and Zlatan is ready to give them a warm welcome."I've got a lot of time for people speaking about themselves in the third person.Head to our European index for live text commentaries.
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Football FocusGET IN FOCUSDan Walker has a feathered friend joining him out at Selhurst Park, asCrystal Palace's mascot makes an appearance on Football Focus.
- GET INVOLVED - #bbcfootballBrendan Bennett: The BT Sport deal is irrelevant until BT decide how to offer their package to its customers. A monopoly isn't always a good thing.Edwin Jabbari: Big blow for terrestrial TV & only widens the gap between top teams and others with its huge financial incentives.
- 1203:COMING UP - Premier LeagueA reminder that there are six Premier League games today. No early kick off, with five getting under way at 15:00 GMT and one at 17:30.Aston Villa v CardiffChelsea v West BromCrystal Palace v EvertonLiverpool v FulhamSouthampton v HullNorwich v West Ham (17:30)
- 1201:CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEALBBC News has been speaking to Gavin Patterson, BT Plc chief executive, who believes the competition it provides for football coverage is good the market as a whole."We are new to the market. The key for us is growing our broadband business," he says. "We are available on all platforms. If customers do not want to be BT broadband customers, they can pay for the service as well."A number of games will be free-to-air, including both finals. If you want access to all the games you will have to pay a little bit, it will be significantly less than the current rate. It will be much more accessible and affordable for customers. We will give full support for both competitions throughout the week. Competition helps the market. It drives innovation."
- 1158:CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEAL - ITV's responseITV has released its statement in response to the news that BT Sport has signed a three-year deal to broadcast live Champions League and Europa League football matches in the UK from 2015.It reads: "ITV is proud to have been the UK free to air broadcaster of the Champions League, since it launched in 1992, and of the Europa League, but we were not prepared to pay over the odds in the latest live rights round."Viewers will be able to continue to watch both competitions free on ITV through to 2015 and we remain the home of live England football."
- 1155:Football FocusCOMING UP
Football Focus is live from Crystal Palace, with Mark Bright and Dion Dublin joining Dan Walker.There is a special feature on Petr Cech meeting Roger Taylor from Queen, a piece on Craig Bellamy and comedian David Schneider does this week's predictions. - 1151:LINE-UPS - Reading v QPR (1215 GMT)Reading: McCarthy, Gunter, Gorkss, Morrison, Kelly, Baird, Obita, McCleary, Guthrie, Robson-Kanu, Pogrebnyak. Subs: Federici, Pearce, Le Fondre, McAnuff, Sharp, Akpan, Cummings.QPR: Green, Simpson, Dunne, Hill, Assou-Ekotto, Jenas, Barton, O'Neil, Phillips, Hoilett, Austin. Subs: Traore, Johnson, Onuoha, Chevanton, Kranjcar, Henry, Murphy.Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)
- 1150:Reading v QPR (1215 GMT)Away from BT Sport's Champions League deal, there is of course the little matter of some football being played today. First up, Reading v Queens Park Rangers in the Championship. Harry Redknapp's QPR can go top with a win, albeit possibly for only a couple of hours. That game kicks off at 12:15 GMT.
- GET INVOLVED - #bbcfootballJarleth Eaton: 20 years ago, Sky took sport off terrestrial TV, so why can't BT? It will be interesting to see what difference they offer.
- 1145:CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEAL - What it meansFor the last two decades, the fact that Uefa's club competitions were available to every household with a television in the UK made ITV an attractive prospect for sponsors, who the Telegraph suggests are aware that the tournaments going behind a paywall would limit their exposure.BT Sport has committed to making certain matches available free-to-air across both the Champions League and Europa League - including both finals. It says it will show each British club free-to-air once per season.
Match of the Day presenter Gary LinekerCHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEAL"Seems BT Sport mean business. Securing the rights to the Champions League shows real ambition and an understanding of the power of football."- 1135:GAME POSTPONEDQuick bit of FA Cup news as one of today's games has fallen foul of the weather. Bury v Cambridge is off after a heavy downpour, as Bury say in their tweet: "Ten minutes of heavy rain has killed it - Game postponed."
- 1131:CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEALSky, though, feel BT paid "far in excess" of its own valuation for the rights to the European matches."We bid with a clear view of what the rights are worth to us. It seems BT chose to pay far in excess of our valuation," the broadcaster says in a statement."There are many ways in which we can invest in our service for customers. We take a disciplined approach and there is always a level at which we will choose to focus on something else. If we thought it was worth more, we'd have paid more."Nothing changes until 2015 and we look forward to 18 more months of live Champions League on Sky Sports. We will now re-deploy resources and continue to bring customers the best choice of TV across our offering."
- 1129:CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEALWhat do the key players think about the BT Sport Champions League & Europa League deal?BT chief executive Gavin Patterson says: "I am thrilled that BT Sport will be the only place where fans can enjoy all the live action from the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. Both tournaments are world class and firm favourites with many."The live rights will give a major boost to BT Sport and give people yet another reason to take our terrific service."
- GET INVOLVEDLet's hear from you then - what is your reaction to the loss of live Champions League coverage to terrestrial television?Is it good news for clubs? Or for the viewers? Or both?How will the extra revenue impact on the chase for the top-four finish?Let us know. You can text in to 81111 (UK Only) - with your names on there - and tweet us at #bbcfootball.
- 1122:CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEALSo in case you are just catching up with this morning's news regarding BT Sport's Champions League deal, here are the highlights:- A three-year deal costing £897m- BT will show all 350 matches in the Champions League and Europa League each season from 2015- It is the first time a single UK broadcaster has won the exclusive live rights- Champions League final will be shown for free from 2015- BT will show at least one match involving each participating British team for free every season
- 1118:CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DEALBT Sport's announcement is a blow to Sky and ITV, which currently share the rights, and will mark the first time a single UK broadcaster has won the exclusive live rights to all matches from the two tournaments.It will also bring to an end ITV's long, long association with the Champions League - it has been the tournament's UK broadcaster since the competition's introduction in 1992 - to put that in perspective that was the year the Premier League came into existence and bald-headed pop duo Right Said Fred topped the charts.
- 1113:NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCKFor many non-league teams, today is a historic moment in their club's history as they look to become this year's underdog story.But for English football as a whole it could be a landmark day after the news this morning that two decades of live Champions League football on terrestrial TV will come to an end from 2015 as BT Sport announced an exclusive £897m three-year deal show all 350 matches each season. This looks to be, as they say, a game changer.
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Ah the FA Cup. The 142 year-old knockout tournament that makes heroes out of part-time mechanics, builders and accountants, has strikers answering SOS calls for teams over the internet, and sees goalkeepers miss games because of being stuck in the traffic.It is a tournament so quintessentially British and for the 48 Football League teams in League One and Two, their journey in the competition begins today as the FA Cup first round gets under way.
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