ITV to land FA Cup and England rights

ITV and Setanta Sports are expected to be awarded the live television rights to the FA Cup and England internationals, according to a report.

The Financial Times claim the broadcasters have offered more than £400million to take over the rights from the BBC and Sky Sports for four years from August 2008.

An announcement is expected to be made by the Football Association on Friday.

The move will be regarded as a coup for ITV and will bolster their football coverage, which is currently focused on Champions League matches.

It will also add to Irish-based satellite broadcaster Setanta's growing sporting portfolio following their acquisition of rights to 46 live Premiership games from next season.

The BBC are likely to be left without any live football to show on their channels and the move will weaken the market leader Sky's dominant position.