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Premier League Coverage PPV and beyond

All matches televised until end Feb 2021 (October 2020)

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DV
DVB Cornwall
Three matches postponed pre 01 Feb 2021 have now been scheduled in this month (Two are on Sky and the other is on AZPV)

Revised fixtures
(all times GMT)

Wednesday 17 February
18:00 Burnley v Fulham (Sky Sports)
20:15 Everton v Man City (Amazon Prime)

Tuesday 23 February
18:00 Leeds v Southampton (Sky Sports)

All three are up against UEFA CL scheduled matches on BT Sport.
GE
thegeek Founding member

All three are up against UEFA CL scheduled matches on BT Sport.

I thought that, at least under normal circumstances, UEFA wouldn't allow top-flight domestic matches to coincide with their own competitions.
BR
Brekkie
They prefer not to but there often ends up being some rescheduled games at this point in the season and they seem to occur more often in this round where the match days are played over two weeks.
DV
DVB Cornwall
Hearing that the shape of the 2022-25 Domestic TV Rights on offer should be known next month, with the auction due late spring, early summer. The big elephant in the room being whether the PL will offer all, or virtually all, matches after the last twelve months. The getting the genie back in the bottle issue prominent.
BR
Brekkie
Presumably the 3pm black out will come back into play. Personally if all games were to be broadcast I think the rest of football would probably be less impacted by 4-5 PL games being aired simultaneously at 3pm on a Saturday than having them in unique slots across the weekend.

Will be interesting to see what they do - at the very minimum I'd expect a final day package and probably first match day package with all games available too, but I think the expectation will be for much more than that.
HC
Hatton Cross
Absolutely. All 380 (Edit - corrected number of Total PL games per season) games should be made available, but - if the PPV 'experiment' of October and November hadn't have crashed and burned so badly taking the PL, clubs and (unfairly in my opinion) broadcasters down in a minor blaze of mutterings them I'm sure that will weigh heavy on their minds.

Also, the PL must be careful seeing what their French cousins have come up against. Trying to engineer a bidding war with a price increase has failed miserably with existing contracts torn up, and last minute temporary deals being set up to keep some of the games on television.
That, could very happen over here as well if the desire to squeeze BT/Sky/Amazon and recoup some of the money lost through having no supporters on matchdays, starts to be suggested by the clubs.

The fairest way (although I guess the current wording of the contract probably forbids it) is to go to the existing live game broadcasters and offer them the same packages and number of games for 2022 - 2025 - if they are happy to accept that - for another three years with a very modest price increase per season.
Last edited by Hatton Cross on 9 February 2021 7:43pm
BR
Brekkie
The Premier League is in a far better position than the French equivalent though, but I think to an extent football is still burnt by the ITV Digital fiasco and would be far more cautious in handing significant rights over to a completely new player (to them) like Eleven or DAZN. It's almost certain the rights will be split with Sky, BT and Amazon - it's just how is the question.

What might be interesting is where they stand on the free to air games over the last year and whether they think that a small package of potentially FTA games is worth it. In all honesty with the BBC and ITV having FA Cup deals in place for the years ahead a pricey one game a month type scenario probably isn't worth it.
DV
DVB Cornwall
For reference it's 380 matches not 300, in total.
SW
Steve Williams
Presumably the 3pm black out will come back into play. Personally if all games were to be broadcast I think the rest of football would probably be less impacted by 4-5 PL games being aired simultaneously at 3pm on a Saturday than having them in unique slots across the weekend.


Yes, especially when fans are back in the grounds, there's really no need to move Palace vs Burnley to 11am on a Sunday just so it can have its own unique slot and a few thousand people who want to watch every single minute of Premier League football can watch it. All that does is just inconveniences and annoys people who want to attend.

I enjoyed it last Saturday when there were three Saturday 3pm games, as mentioned at the time the most at that time since the weekend before it was suspended. I love loads of matches being played at the same time and hearing goals flying in on Final Score, Five Live and Soccer Saturday, and then a big long Match of the Day which can round up everything. I certainly paid more attention to Palace vs Wolves when it was one of three Saturday 3pm games than if it had been shown on a Sunday morning or Monday teatime, when I might have just checked the score, if I'd remembered if it was on.

From a personal perspective, too, the more matches played at the same time the better, as I have a football-phobic partner and I have just about managed to convince them that Saturday 3pm and whenever Liverpool/Wrexham play is a suitable amount for me to be watching (plus MOTD which I can watch after they've gone to bed, or before they get up the next morning). And I think the same is true for the vast majority of football fans, there is a small number of hardcore fans that can spend the entire weekend watching football but for most people they have a finite amount of time they can spend watching it. And if football starts enveloping even more of the weekend, it becomes a chore and a bit of an imposition.

As I've said before, Saturday 3pm hasn't become the standard kick-off time by accident. For most people it is the perfect time to watch (and play) football, and it should remain the centrepiece of the sport.

What might be interesting is where they stand on the free to air games over the last year and whether they think that a small package of potentially FTA games is worth it. In all honesty with the BBC and ITV having FA Cup deals in place for the years ahead a pricey one game a month type scenario probably isn't worth it.


No, not really. As you suggest, they can already get big audiences with FA Cup and England matches, and they get first choice in those rights, not the sixth choice. The only package that would really be of interest for a FTA broadcaster would be one like the Football League pack the Beeb had in 2009-12, when they had ten first choice matches a season - few enough for them to be special and fit in the schedule, without the obligation to show many more of minimal interest. Even the Amazon package of twenty matches, which would be about the right number, wouldn't work for a FTA broadcaster as most of those matches are on at the same time. And you wouldn't want to add extra live matches onto the highlights package if that whacks the price up substantially, the Beeb would rather have highlights of everything than a few mediocre live games.

Back in the 2004-07 contract, there was grumbings that everything had gone to Sky and that this was anti-competitive and offered no choice for the consumer (ie, get Sky or get nothing), which is why from the next contract they resolved to sell them to more than one broadcaster. So to counter this, Sky said they would sub-licence a package of eight matches to another broadcaster. Everyone assumed ITV would buy them as they'd just lost the Premier League highlights rights, but in the end nobody met the reserve price and so they weren't sold. Testament to the idea that broadcasters don't want just any football, they want the right football.
DV
DVB Cornwall
DAZN reportedly sniffing out the 2022-5 rights process it seems.
ST
Ste Founding member
DAZN reportedly sniffing out the 2022-5 rights process it seems.

They have also submitted a higher bid than Sky
Italia for the Serie A rights in Italy. It's lower than then reserve price however so the league are meeting to discuss this week.
BR
Brekkie
No surprise - the relative newcomer is always said to be sniffing around. Doesn't mean they'll get them, and I think even with a knockout bit considering the history of football leagues here and abroad going afte the money and then months later regretting it may see caution from the Premier League.


So much depends on the nature of the rights too - if rights are similar to now, maybe with a couple of extra rounds of full matches, I don't think much will change but Amazon may be interested in a weekly package alongside one or two full rounds. If all 380 matches are on the table I suspect all bets are off, although I'd still imagine the top 4/5 matches per round would generally end up with Sky and BT.

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