Challenging the norm: How TNT Sports is evolving coverage of the men's and women's FA Cups with a fresh approach By Heather McLean
Thursday, October 30, 2025 - 11:41
Print This Story
The Women's FA Cup is now receiving differentiated broadcast treatment at TNT Sports, as Pete Thomas seeks to grow its audience [Credit: The FA via Getty Images]
This is TNT Sports' first year as host broadcaster of both the men's FA Cup and the Women's FA Cup. For the two competitions, it is sharing rights with the free-to-air broadcasters BBC Sport, on the men's FA Cup, and Channel 4, on the Women's FA Cup.
The Women's FA Cup started on Saturday 25 October with Middlesbrough versus Cheadle Town Stingers. The contest was the first-ever Women's FA Cup first round game to be broadcast live on television, heralding a historic day for women's football, especially for Middlesbrough, who won 4-0.
The FA Cup first round proper for the men's teams takes place this weekend (31 October to 3 November). The draw saw clubs from Leagues 1 and 2 of the English Football League (EFL) join the competition, being pitted against the non-league teams that have progressed through the qualifying rounds. There will be 40 matches being played over the weekend, with eight being shown live on TNT Sports and two being shown live as well by BBC Sport.
Challenging the norm
SVG Europe caught up with TNT Sports' head of football, Pete Thomas, to find out how the host broadcaster is planning on bringing both FA Cups to viewers. What's gone before has been excellent, comments Thomas on TNT Sports' plans for the host broadcast. But I think we definitely want to bring our stamp to it, and I think that one of those elements is to challenge the norm, in some respects.
In terms of the host broadcast, we are responsible for delivering fantastic coverage of the matches, and that's something we take very seriously. We obviously fulfil that role in other competitions Premier League, Champions League, European competitions so we're experienced in delivering high-end football coverage and we take those principles from the experience we've gained into this competition. We put this competition alongside Champions League coverage and Premier League coverage in the way that we actually cover the match itself.
TNT Sports' head of football, Pete Thomas, with the men's and women's FA Cups [Credit: C1 Media]
Differentiated treatment
On challenging those existing norms, the Women's FA Cup is now receiving differentiated treatment from TNT Sports, as Thomas seeks to grow its audience. Explains Thomas: I think it's really important that for the Women's FA Cup we don't just lump it in with the men's FA Cup and treat it the same. The women's game is different and we are very aware of trying to bring the women's game to life in its own right and to spot the differences. There's not necessarily huge differences but [we're looking at] storytelling and at the way we present the game, and making sure that that's right for both competitions.
TNT Sports will broadcast 19 matches across the season Women's FA Cup, while Channel 4 will televise one match per round from the 3rd Round. On how the Women's FA Cup will appear on TV in comparison to the men's, Thomas says: I think the first thing to say is that our match coverage and our approach is the same in terms of level, so particularly around the host broadcast element, the quality we're delivering of the match coverage is absolutely the same.
I think it's just not falling into the trap of thinking that the audience is exactly the same in profile. We know that the women's game is currently riding a massive high over here after the Euro success. We know that attendances are massively up. There's an engagement from a lot of younger fans, the playing fans; women who are finding the game young and attaching to clubs. So it's working out how to speak to those fans directly, which might just be slightly different to a men's fan base. Working out which parts of the storytelling or reflecting on the game connect better with the audience.
He adds that the broadcaster aims to learn throughout the season and tweak its broadcast plans for both the men's game and the women's to improve and evolve each broadcast: It's also going to be a learning that we go through during the season, and I think that applies to both competitions. We're not coming in at round one saying, this is the way we're definitely going to do it all the way to the final and this is going to work . We're going to go, okay, we're think this is what will work and we're going to listen to the audience and we're going to learn and we're going to make sure we tailor it as we go .
Learning evolution
As to that learning evolution, TNT Sports has its production plans firmly in place for rounds one and two in terms of the live coverage and how it is working alongside BBC Sport, which is showing two games per week.
However, Thomas adds that the production team is treating the early rounds as learning curves through which it can develop plans for the later stages. As we go later into the competition [we'll look at] what those plans will be as we proceed as we'll learn partly from what happens literally next weekend, and partly because we're still looking at how we can maximise schedules and make things as good as they can be. We are looking to do a draw show on a Monday night for every round, so one of our live games will be on a Monday night, which is the draw for the next round of the competition and builds into the live game, but also helps to tell the story of the weekend and highlight anything amazing that's happened.
As
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
Challenging the norm: How TNT Sports is evolving coverage of the men's and women's FA Cups with a fresh approach By Heather McLean 
