Culture secretary and Hertsmere MP Oliver Dowden is hoping that some Premier League games will be free-to-air once the season resumes.

It is hoped that the English top flight will take another step towards returning with a Project Restart meeting being held this morning.

Ahead of a potential return next month, Mr Dowden said he hoped some games could be available for free broadcast.

"I'm hoping we can have something a bit more ambitious with some more free-to-air matches for people to watch from home because that would be helpful in terms of discouraging people from leaving their home to watch it," he told Sky News.

"I had some very constructive discussions on Thursday with the FA, the EFL and the Premier League.

"We are working hard with them to try and get it back, aiming for mid-June, but the number one test is public safety.

"They, like a lot of other sports we're looking at returning behind closed doors, have met with Public Health England several times to look at the safety.

"If we can sort that out then we will look to resume by mid-June. We're making good progress."

On how the free-to-air system would work, Mr Dowden told BBC Breakfast that there are "various options".

He said: "There is a rule at the moment that at 3pm you can't show matches on TV because people were watching it in the football stadiums.

"Clearly that is not going to be the case at the moment, so some of those slots may be available for free-to-air, so we are looking to see whether we could do that as part of the wider broadcasting package."