3 PM Kickoffs post Brexit

Hi

Just a thought. When the UK leaves the EU what will this mean for competition rules. WIll Sky and the Premier League have free reign to crack down on pubs showing 3pm KO. What will this mean for private viewers?

Since all laws from the EU will be kept and then unpicked it could take years before someone get around to Football Telly rights, and then there could be backlash.

Although it is one which Murdoch would prioritise.

What about BT Sports?

3pm isn't EU legislation it's the FA through UEFA which are responsible for the policy and enforcement. Broadcasters have no wish to offend either. The EU Commission have challenged this in the past, so take them out of the equation and if anything the rigidity of the rule gets strengthened.

I think the question is more about publicans taking advantage of EU competition rules allowing them to subscribe to outside-of-UK suppliers who can legally broadcast 3pm matches. If you get rid of those competition rules (which only exist to make it possible for all EU companies to compete regardless of location), which seems like will be an early casualty of the great real repeal bill, will make it illegal to get your 3pm feed from a supplier outside of the UK

Advances in streaming technology and the Premier League allowing 3pm kick-offs to be shown in the Republic of Ireland (how many Irish Sky boxes are floating around GB pubs?) mean the genie has long since escaped the bottle on this one, regardless of the official position.

Although a lot of ISPs seem to be getting better at blocking the sources of the streams themselves, if not the aggregators.

I've noticed it's a lot harder to find the clean "world feed" (commentary but no analysis/pundits) these days on KODI, however one can still get a feed with foreign language commentary/presentation with relative ease. Regardless of that, however, I find the picture quality is either dogs**t even by SD standards or buffers too much to be useable, and if I can I've just given up and forked out for a Now TV day pass.

The issue I've got is with the blacking-out of 3pm kick offs in the UK. I just don't think it has any relevance in this day and age. The money the Premier League clubs get from television eclipses that from tickets, but in any case I can't see a major impact on attendance figures.

The "Blackout" has nothing to do with Premier League revenues, but is an attempt to protect lower league revenues. It is largely a UK thing, very few other countries maintain one, Montenegro (not yet in the EU) being the only other country outside England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to have them.

Expect lots of op eds in the tabloids

Most Saturday 3pm kick-offs in the Premier League aren't exactly mouthwatering for neutrals, so I imagine abolishing the 3pm blackout isn't high on serious broadcasters' priority list (Virgin Media's recent grumbling not withstanding) - particularly as it's helped create the cult of Soccer Saturday and its imitators.