David Cuffley Norwich City can get a head start on their npower Championship rivals after they were chosen for Sky TV's first live Football League game of next season.

David Cuffley

Norwich City can get a head start on their npower Championship rivals after they were chosen for Sky TV's first live Football League game of next season.

The Canaries' opening match, at home to Malky Mackay's Watford, has been brought forward a day to Friday, August 6, kicking off at 7.45pm.

The change gives Paul Lambert's team the first opportunity to get points on the board before the rest of the Championship sides kick off the next day.

The game against the Hornets is not the only TV date for City in Sky's first list of selections.

The Ipswich Town home match, which was already moved back to Sunday, November 28, will also be shown live on Sky, with an earlier kick-off time of 11.30am.

City will collect a very handy �200,000 cash bonus from their two TV appearances, with home teams collecting �100,000 per live Championship match, compared to just �10,000 going to away teams.

In League One and Two, the figures are �20,000 for the home club and �10,000 for the visitors.

The Pride of Anglia fixture has been a popular choice for TV with three of the last four Carrow Road derbies screened by Sky, bringing City one defeat, one draw and one victory in front of the cameras.

They beat Town 2-0 in the last home derby, in the Championship in December 2008, with Lee Croft and Matty Pattison the scorers.

There have so far been four amendments to City's original 2010-11 fixture list, published nine days ago.

The return derby fixture at Ipswich has been moved from Easter Saturday to Good Friday, April 22, kicking off at 1.15pm.

And the trip to Crystal Palace on Boxing Day will now involve an earlier start for City fans after kick-off was brought forward two hours to 1pm.