Travel-weary Hammers fans who don't fancy a hard slog on the motorways to attend the away match against Blackburn Rovers on Sunday, October 14, can now save their petrol and ticket money and watch it at home instead.
For our FA Barclaycard Premiership game at Ewood Park against newly-promoted Rovers is one of the first 11 games selected for live broadcast under the new pay-per-view (ppv) agreement.
The long haul from the south-east to Lancashire is one of the most arduous away trips southern-based West Ham fans face all season, so the prospect of inviting a few mates round to watch the game live on the telly will no doubt appeal to many who already subcribe to the likes of Sky, or are considering the satellite option.
BSkyB, ONdigital and cable services Telewest and ntl have agreed a deal worth around £180m to screen 40 ppv matches a year until the end of the 2003-04 season.
Every Premiership club is guaranteed at least one ppv outing during each campaign and the most popular clubs will appear a maximum of six times.
Sunday ppv matches will kick off at 2pm, although some other games will be screened on midweek evenings (8pm), Saturday mornings or bank holidays.
The price of viewing a match is expected to vary according to the provider, with some broadcasters expected to offer discounted packages for the service. Price details will be announced shortly.
Premier League bosses expect fans of the away team to form the bulk of their applications for featured matches, hence the reason why Newcastle United's long-distance visit to Chelsea has been chosen as the first ppv match and been switched to Sunday, August 19.
The Stamford Bridge curtain-raiser was selected by the panel - comprising representatives of the Premier League and all four members of the TV consortiums - after they had also given much consideration to Hammers' opening day visit to Liverpool, which remains on Saturday, August 18.
The panel are likely to meet every three months or so to pick their next batch of featured matches.
Sky remain by far the biggest broadcaster of live Premiership football, though, and will continue to have first choice for their established 'Super Sunday'games that kick-off at 4pm.
Their ppv matches will be broadcast through Sky Box Office, via channel 433, to Sky digital subscribers.