Coventry City chairman Bryan Richardson has dismissed claims that the club are locked in talks over the possibility of launching a television channel to show their games.

A Sunday newspaper this week suggested that the Sky Blues were among several midlands clubs who were attempting to establish a joint channel, in a similar vein to Manchester United’s MUTV.

However, Richardson has revealed that this plan was hatched as a contingency plan after a doubt was raised over the legality of Sky TV’s deal with the Premier League.

He said: 

"I think this came about some while ago before the result was known in the case between the Office of Fair Trade and the Premier League.

"There was a dispute over whether they should be allowed to sell the rights to show games centrally, so clubs had to look at other things, and that was something we looked at.

"But at the moment I don’t think there is anything in that."

City’s continued improvement this season has been rewarded with an FA Cup fifth round draw against Division One Charlton Athletic and the city chairman is delighted with that.

He said: 

"It’s a great draw for us. I think the main thing was to get a match at Highfield Road because the team believe they can beat anybody there.

"We just want to get everybody behind the team because if we win the Charlton match we are only two games from Wembley."

A continued run in the competition also causes a scramble for tickets and Richardson has warned fans that attending Premier League games could be crucial.

He said: 

"There is always going to be a shortage of tickets available, not only for that game but for ones subsequent to it.

"So tickets for next Saturday’s match with Wimbledon will be valuable should we progress past Charlton.

"So in other words, if you come to the Wimbledon game the value of your ticket will be carried forward."