Live Saturday 3pm football

[AlanM04]

At what point are we going to be able to watch any live Premier League match we choose in the UK via a legal platform like Sky or BT/TNT or Amazon etc?

I find it utterly ridiculous that people in literally every other country can watch any game live, for a fraction of the price we pay I might add as well. Yet as UK residents we're still tied down by some archaic law preventing the live broadcast of Satuday 3pm games. 

I support Man City for example. If I don't attend an away game I'm not going to go and watch Macclesfield or Stockport or Bolton or any of the local semi-pro sides - I honestly couldn't care less about them. That law was introduced in a vastly different time and it's about time we got into the 21st century. You want to clamp down on illegal streams, IPTV and VPN'ing US Paramount+ and Peacock etc? Giving UK residents legitimate live full access to their own national sport is the way to do it. 

[Mark39]

Not my area of expertise, but if there's a legal requirement not to broadcast live the 3pm games on a Saturday, I'm not sure what Sky or any other broadcaster can do about it.

[nolte]

There is some preliminary discussion on changing this. The blackout comes from premier league, English football league, and fa Cup so it's their decision.

No changes would happen until 2025-2028 bidding at the earliest

[TimmyBGood]

@AlanM04 

This is not a law: it's a restriction implemented by the football authorities themselves (now enshrined in UEFA Article 48) back in the 1960s when television broadcast reception was becoming more widespread and they were worried gate attendance would go down.  The PL, EFL and FA have the power to change this if they choose to do so: you'll find the topic extensively discussed online.

[TimmyBGood]

@AlanM04 

In the 1960s, Burnley F.C.  chairman Bob Lord  successfully convinced fellow Football League  chairmen that televised matches on a Saturday afternoon would have a negative effect on the attendances of other football league games that were not being televised and as a result reduce their financial income.

As a result, the FA , Premier League  and Football League  do not permit English matches to be televised live between 2:45pm and 5:15pm on a Saturday within the United Kingdom .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_football_on_television 

[SKY1992bf]

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

@AlanM04 

This is not a law: it's a restriction implemented by the football authorities themselves (now enshrined in UEFA Article 48) back in the 1960s when television broadcast reception was becoming more widespread and they were worried gate attendance would go down.  The PL, EFL and FA have the power to change this if they choose to do so: you'll find the topic extensively discussed online.

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Whilst the EFL are keen for the change to happen from 24/25 based on the current bidding process for all games from 24/25

the premier league strongly oppose any change 

[redsky88]

If and it's a big if the change does happen then I could see a NFL type Redzone program with live goal clips, saves etc being shown across the leagues. I would imagine this would be a massive draw from a ratings point of view. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@redsky88 wrote:

I would imagine this would be a massive draw from a ratings point of view. 

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Yes, but presumably that again raises the question of impact on actual match attendance?

[d2h]

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@SKY1992bf wrote:

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@TimmyBGood wrote:

@AlanM04 

This is not a law: it's a restriction implemented by the football authorities themselves (now enshrined in UEFA Article 48) back in the 1960s when television broadcast reception was becoming more widespread and they were worried gate attendance would go down.  The PL, EFL and FA have the power to change this if they choose to do so: you'll find the topic extensively discussed online.

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Whilst the EFL are keen for the change to happen from 24/25 based on the current bidding process for all games from 24/25

the premier league strongly oppose any change 

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They're not "keen" and it's not been set in stone. They're just open to suggestions and are offering whatever broadcasters are keen to buy so they can maximise their income.

They currently get £119m per season from Sky and are hoping to increase that to c£200m per season in the next cycle. That extra revenue, albeit optimistic, would see clubs compensated for any losses in gate receipts. It's unlikely for gates to see any noticeable losses due to the very tribal nature of football support but the fact remains that it's never been tested en mass. We do know that EFL gates don't see any meaningful decrease when live matches are on TV currently. 

It should also be noted that when the idea was floated and introduced in the 1960s, regular live football on TV didn't happen for another 20+ years, well into the 1980s. Since then, we've seen the introduction of the Premier League and steady increases in live matches on TV - with no real impact on match-goer numbers. The broadcasting landscape in the 1960s was different to that in the 1980s, which was different to that in the 1990s… and all are a world apart from today’s landscape. The closed-window period has never been tested and quite frankly, it's a dated practice. So much so that only 2 Associations in the whole of Europe ask for it to be enforced - England and Scotland. Prior to this, Montenegro enforced it but no longer take up the option. 

The Premier League rely on a drip-feed approach by limiting their matches in order to maximise revenues. The removal of the blocked broadcasting hours won't have any impact on them - they can continue to choose not to sell those matches if they wish.

Whatever happens, the belief is that EFL rights will be split into around 20 packages... So expect multiple broadcasters. 

[nolte]

@TimmyBGood 's post reminded me of reading that back when the Premier league and sky were doing the initial tv rights.

The Sunday matches might have ended up as blacked out in Ireland as under UEFA rules, FAI could veto the broadcast of matches in Ireland if they were shown at the main time for the matches being played in a member country

Instead there was a settlement reached between sky and the irish clubs, which meant sky paid for floodlights for all the irish teams, which allowed them to change from playing on Sunday afternoon to playing on Friday nights instead

[12rounds]

It's a ridiculous, outdated rule. UK subscribers paying the highest subscription fees, for the least amount of content. A large amount of games not legally available even if you wanted to pay for it. 

Such a restriction in this day and age is an own goal for the legitimate broadcaster. 

You'll even get generally honest people dabbling in the illegal streams just to get the 3pm content - which will lead to them going full time with the dodgy provider. 

While you can't excuse piracy, the legit broadcasters have allowed such a big market to develop through outdated practices and unfair pricing. 

I'm over £100 a month and can't see all of my teams matches. Dodgy Dave down the pub is £25 a year on sketchy device and has access to every televised match in the world. 

[TimmyBGood]

@12rounds 

Again, as explained above, this is not a 'rule': it's a choice made decades ago and perpetuated ever since by the people who own and run football in the UK, and is entirely within their remit to modify or end.

If you want to argue that these people might, just might, not always have the interests of fans right at the top of their priority list, that's a different debate...

[ozsat]

It is UEFA's Article 48 which states matches which kick off on a Saturday at 3pm are not available for broadcast Domestically.

Saturday 25th March is an International break so 3pm matches are allowed on tv.

[AlanM04]

@12rounds my sentiments exactly. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@ozsat wrote:

It is UEFA's Article 48 which states matches which kick off on a Saturday at 3pm are not available for broadcast Domestically.

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As I understand it that Article gives member organizations the option to exercise such a broadcasting ban. Only the UK football owners actually do this (given they invented the concept in the first place) so its existence just serves to legitimise the choice of the PL/EFL/FA within a wider governance framework.