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The deal sees BSkyB picking up the pieces after the collapse of the league's £315m TV rights deal with ITV Sport, the sports channel ITV set up to help boost subscriptions to its digital terrestrial service ITV Digital.

The £95m deal with Sky represents a major discount on the price agreed with ITV, but it is also close to the £100m the league said it would have accepted as a settlement from ITV.

Football League chief executive David Burns said in a statement: "This is great news for the Football League and its clubs and we are absolutely delighted to be returning to Sky Sports. This agreement will help to provide financial stability to clubs at a very important time, as well as top-class coverage of our games."

The deal gives the satellite broadcaster the rights to televise league matches until the 2005-2006 season.

Many of the league's small clubs have been left in financial straits since the collapse of the ITV Sport deal, with some even going into administration. The deal with Sky, which is initially for the Nationwide League, Worthington Cup and LDV Trophy games, will be worth around £20m in the first season.

Vic Wakeling, managing director of Sky Sports, said: "Sky is delighted to be involved with the Football League. We hope that the clubs can now plan for the future."

The ITV Sport deal fell through when digital terrestrial platform ITV Digital was closed earlier this year, owing the league £178.5m for the remaining two payments of the three-year deal to televise league matches on the sports channel.

ITV Sport, part of the ITV network and owned by Carlton Communications and Granada, began to backtrack on the deal at the end of last year, when it discovered that ratings for league division football matches were incredibly low.

The ratings were so low for one match it failed to register on ratings agency Barb's scale.

It was reported that less than 1,000 viewers -- the minimum amount required to record a Barb rating -- tuned in to a high-profile Worthington Cup semi-final clash between Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers.

The Football League has been locked in a legal battle with ITV shareholders Carlton and Granada since their joint venture digital terrestrial broadcaster collapsed, in an attempt to try to recover some of the £178m it is owed.

The case is due to be heard this month, after the league won an early court hearing.

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