Just over a week ago, you may not have heard it, but the death knell began to sound for football played at 3pm on a Saturday in the Championship.

With the announcement of the EFL’s new agreement with Sky Sports that starts next season and runs through to the end of the 2028/89 campaign came the news that, from the start of 24/25, five matches in the Championship each weekend will be broadcast live.

There will be a further five games from Leagues One and Two as well, making a total of 10 televised EFL fixtures on each regular weekend of the season.

And because this new deal allows for 'Article 48' - the blocked broadcast period between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturday afternoons - to remain, it means the main broadcast fixtures will be scheduled for slots outside of this time.

What days and times these games will be shown “will be confirmed at a later date” the announcement said.

Pretty much any club will confirm that when they play games at any other time than 3pm on a Saturday, matchday revenue suffers – not just in ticket sales, but also income from refreshments, memorabilia, restaurant bookings and everything else.

One thing that appears certain is Watford’s first game of next season will not be played at 3pm on a Saturday – that’s because the new deal includes all opening-day fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two being shown live.

It’ll be like the last day of the season currently where all games are broadcast, and which this season has left Watford fans needing to be up before the milkman to get to Middlesbrough for a 12.30pm kick-off.

Of course, the rules could be changed to allow for the opening day to be played at 3pm and still be broadcast, but it feels more likely that the first set of fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will be split over three different kick-off times so that each division plays at the same time – and that could include games on Sunday.

Also, all matches played on Bank Holidays including Easter, Boxing Day and New Year's Day will be shown live, as will the matches played in League One and League Two during international breaks.

The agreement makes more matches available to stream and will effectively replace the current Sky Sports EFL red button coverage and the EFL's domestic streaming option provided via iFollow and club streaming services.

The Watford Observer understands that Hive Live will continue and still offer the audio commentary, but will only be able to broadcast pictures of games to those with an IP address registered outside the UK – so overseas fans will be fine, as would anyone in the UK who knows a bit about purchasing and using a VPN…

However, what this will undoubtedly mean is more Friday nights, Saturday lunchtimes and evenings, Sunday games and – perish the thought – possibly a return of those great Thursday night live games that killed off ITV Digital 20 years ago.

Financially the deal is made up of guaranteed payments of £895m and £40m in marketing benefits, which represents a 50 per cent increase on the value of the current rights agreement and will see significantly enhanced exposure for all EFL clubs provided through on-air and digital support from Sky Sports to promote EFL competitions, clubs, and community initiatives.

In total, 1,059 EFL matches are set to be broadcast across existing Sky Sports channels or live via a Sky Sports streaming destination available on TV and mobile devices.

That includes all 93 Carabao Cup matches – although that must surely come with the risk of severely impacted attendances in the early rounds?

Similarly all 127 EFL Trophy games are to be shown live which, considering there were games this season with attendances in three figures, increases the chance of there being more people on the pitch and in the dug-outs, than there are in the stands.

Non-Sky subscribers will be able to get access to all 12 Sky Sports channels, contract-free, with a NOW Day or Month Membership.

There is a plus point for those who follow the Hornets home and away, and often have to wrestle with games being moved from their original date/time due to live coverage.

Sky Sports and the EFL are introducing a new commitment for clubs and fans which will provide longer notice periods on TV selections: for instance, all live matches selected for broadcast for the period up to the FA Cup third round in January 2024 will be confirmed before the start of the season.

There will also be greater parity in the number of times that clubs are selected for TV coverage is also guaranteed – so less likely we’ll have a repeat of the scenario Leeds faced this season with some 75% of their games shown live.

However with clubs receiving around £70,000 each time one of their games is broadcast live, the inconvenience for Leeds of rarely playing at 3pm on a Saturday will have been tempered by them pocketing more than £2m.

If there is greater parity in how many times each team is involved in a live game, then it will help ensure slices of that particular cash pie are more even.

And with so many games now exclusive to Sky, they are upgrading the standard of their coverage of live matches.

They’ll have a minimum of eight cameras for each game broadcast on existing channels. For matches available to stream, Sky commentary will be provided and a minimum of four cameras will be used at Championship and League One matches, and a minimum of two cameras in League Two.