There’s an extra incentive for Conference South sides to gain promotion with news that the Football Conference and BT Sport have agreed a two-year deal for the new channels to show 30 live matches a season from the Conference Premier.

BT Sport will host live broadcasts from the grounds for 25 league matches, plus both legs of the play-off semis and the Promotion Final at Wembley, from the start of the 2013-14 season in August.

The deal will bring live football from the fifth tier to a much wider audience than ever before, which will enable greater opportunities for marketing and sponsorship deals.

Brian Lee, chairman of The Football Conference, said: “We welcome the opportunity to be joining the revolutionary BT Sport, which we are sure will be a ‘game changer ‘ for ourselves and BT Sport. We feel that the prospect of showcasing our wonderful brand of live football to a potentially mind-blowing number of viewers can only enhance our product. We hope sponsors of clubs and competition alike recognise the huge step that we are now undertaking. We sincerely hope this is the start of a long and fruitful partnership for both parties.”

BT Sport will show 38 exclusively live football matches from the Barclays Premier League, including 18 of the ‘top picks’ from August 2013 for three seasons. The channels will also show live FA Cup, Europa League and Scottish Premier League matches, as well as top tier live football from Germany, Italy, France, Brazil, Australia and the USA, plus action from the FA Women’s Super League.