It has been confirmed that Watford’s opening game of the season away at Millwall will be played on Saturday, August 10, with a 12.30pm kick-off.

The Hornets’ trip to The Den is one of eight Championship fixtures that will be played in that slot, seven of which will be shown live on the new Sky Sports+ channel with one being broadcast on Sky Sports Football.

There will be two Championship games shown live on Friday, August 9, and one at 4pm on Sunday, August 11.

The final game of the first 12 Championship matches will be shown live at 8pm on Monday, August 12: Luton v Burnley.

Sky’s new deal with the EFL means they can show all first-day fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two.

Consequently, games are spread across the weekend, with ten League Two fixtures being shown live at 3pm on Saturday, August 10 at 3pm, and ten League One games broadcast at 5.30pm the same day.

The EFL confirmed today that Article 48, which precludes matches from being shown live between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on Saturday, does not apply on the opening day of the season.

The details of what games will be shown when and on which channel are as follows:

Friday, August 9, 8pm:

Blackburn Rovers v Derby County (Sky Sports Football)

Preston North End v Sheffield United (Sky Sports+)

Barnsley v Mansfield Town (Sky Sports+)

Chesterfield v Swindon Town (Sky Sports+)

Saturday, August 10:

Oxford United v Norwich City (12.30pm, Sky Sports Football)

Seven Championship games (12.30pm, Sky Sports+)

Milton Keynes Dons v Bradford City (3pm, Sky Sports Football)

Ten League Two games (3pm, Sky Sports+)

Birmingham City v Reading (5.30pm, Sky Sports Football)

Ten League One games (5.30pm, Sky Sports+)

Sunday, August 11:

Sheffield Wednesday v Plymouth Argyle (4pm, Sky Sports Football)

Monday, August 12:

Luton Town v Burnley (8pm, Sky Sports Football)

Within seven days of today’s EFL fixture release, all matches selected for broadcast for the period to the end of September will be announced, and before a ball is kicked of the 2024/25 season, all TV selections will be confirmed for the period up to the FA Cup third round in early January.

This gives fans and clubs up to five months’ notice, an increase from the five weeks' notice given across the majority of the 2023/24 season.

In line with the uplift in matches, weekends where all divisions and the Premier League are scheduled to play, regten ular weekend games across the three divisions will be broadcast, including seven games at 12.30pm on a Saturday.

This will include up to five Sky Bet Championship matches and up to five matches across Sky Bet League One and Sky Bet League Two.

Sky Bet EFL fixtures will be broadcast via either an existing Sky Sports channel or Sky Sports+, a new way for fans to discover and stream live sport.

Integrated into the current Sky TV experience and the revamped Sky Sports mobile app, Sky Sports+ is available at no extra cost for subscribers of the full Sky Sports package. All televised fixtures will also be available on streaming service NOW