The 3pm U.K. Blackout

P-Ro said:
A brilliant day of football which I couldn't watch on TV. This is such a stone age policy.
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Get a firestick and iptv, will cost about £80 all in. You'll have your pick of whatever PL game you want to watch at 3 on a Saturday.
 
Noot said:
If your best way of getting people to go to lower league games is to ban their alternative, maybe the problem is that lower league games aren't very appealing
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Who said it was "the best way"?

Lower league sides are clinging on to life. To make it harder for them just so armchair fans can watch even more live football isn't worth it.
 
P-Ro said:
A brilliant day of football which I couldn't watch on TV. This is such a stone age policy.
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Its literally so backwards

the rest of the world can enjoy our league’s games that are on at 3pm

but those in the home nation of the League can not, unless opting for none official streams via IPTV

they haven’t even bothered to trial it to test their concerns, the perfect time being after having 3pm kick offs because of Covid
 
duffer said:
Who said it was "the best way"?

Lower league sides are clinging on to life. To make ot harder for them just so armchair fans can watch even more live football isn't worth it.
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Having attended lower league football for years I really don't think this is a valid argument. Nearly all of the fans who attend the games consider their lower league club as either their only team or their main team. If we still continue to put on the shit games at 3pm then they won't see a marked drop in attendance. Plus there's more money to be made by the PL which can then be distributed to the football league.
 
P-Ro said:
Having attended lower league football for years I really don't think this is a valid argument. Nearly all of the fans who attend the games consider their lower league club as either their only team or their main team. If we still continue to put on the shit games at 3pm then they won't see a marked drop in attendance. Plus there's more money to be made by the PL which can then be distributed to the football league.
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This is a massively reductionist point. The point behind the blackout is that those fans wouldn’t be watching that team in the first place without that blackout, so certainly wouldn’t be their only or main team.

Also the concept of Premier League actually giving money to the football league is laughable.
 
phelans shorts said:
This is a massively reductionist point. The point behind the blackout is that those fans wouldn’t be watching that team in the first place without that blackout, so certainly wouldn’t be their only or main team.

Also the concept of Premier League actually giving money to the football league is laughable.
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You ever bothered to check the details of the TV rights deals mate?

Also, yes they would be watching their team. If you support Grimsby you aren't going to stop going because Palace vs Villa is on the tele.
 
phelans shorts said:
This is a massively reductionist point. The point behind the blackout is that those fans wouldn’t be watching that team in the first place without that blackout, so certainly wouldn’t be their only or main team.

Also the concept of Premier League actually giving money to the football league is laughable.
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Who is gonna tell him?
 
P-Ro said:
You ever bothered to check the details of the TV rights deals mate?
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You think there’s actually a significant portion of the pie? You read Operation Big Picture? You see your gaffers nonsense all star game proposals?

Throwing a small cursory amount doesn’t help anyone but those at the top in the long term. Welcome to how these pricks in charge actually work, mate.
 
P-Ro said:
Having attended lower league football for years I really don't think this is a valid argument. Nearly all of the fans who attend the games consider their lower league club as either their only team or their main team. If we still continue to put on the shit games at 3pm then they won't see a marked drop in attendance. Plus there's more money to be made by the PL which can then be distributed to the football league.
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Having also attended lower league games for years its absolutely true for me and many of my friends/family.

It's not millions of people course but the margins smaller clubs are working with are tiny. Why make it even harder?

Everyone who really wants to can watch every 3pm game for free with about 2 minutes of searching online as it is.
 
duffer said:
Everyone who really wants to can watch every 3pm game for free with about 2 minutes of searching online as it is
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The amount of people breaking the law to defy the blackout shouldn't be a reason why it should continue to exist. As I said earlier, I don't believe showing Forrest Vs Newcastle at 3pm is going to have a significant effect of the attendances of lower league clubs. Any change in the blackout rules will certainly end up with the football league clubs getting significantly more money from the TV deals because the clubs will kick up a big fuss about the potential for attendances to drop.
 
P-Ro said:
The amount of people breaking the law to defy the blackout shouldn't be a reason why it should continue to exist. As I said earlier, I don't believe showing Forrest Vs Newcastle at 3pm is going to have a significant effect of the attendances of lower league clubs. Any change in the blackout rules will certainly end up with the football league clubs getting significantly more money from the TV deals because the clubs will kick up a big fuss about the potential for attendances to drop.
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If "any change to the blackout will end up with football league clubs getting significantly more money from TV deals", why do you think football league clubs are not advocating for it?
 
Getting the firestick with IPTV has saved me thousands and I can watch any game I want. Looking forward to watching United at 2pm in 4K.
 
duffer said:
If "any change to the blackout will end up with football league clubs getting significantly more money from TV deals", why do you think football league clubs are not advocating for it?
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Because it's a debate being held on twitter and forums like these instead of at the highest level. Businesses like guaranteed income, if they could get what they would consider a satisfactory amount of it then they would be on board. But the fact that this isn't even open to discussion currently means that they wouldn't be calling for it on the basis that they don't know what type of deal they would be getting.
 
It's pretty obviously an out-of-date measure that is inevitably going to end.

It's ludicrous to leave people in the UK unable to watch the Premier League on TV while the rest of the world can happily do so. Especially as it doesn't actually stop anyone who wants to watch the games from watching them. It just forces them to watch them illegally and in worse quality, even if they've spent money on BT, Sky, Amazon Prime, etc. The genie is out of the bottle, you can't protect the Premier League or lower leagues from the internet by ripping off fans who want to watch the Premier League and excluding those who lack the capacity to find the games on the internet.

You also have the option of doing what other leagues do and scheduling no or fewer games at 3pm.
 
I understand 3 pm blackouts but days like today doesn’t make sense. Why can’t they show all games on a Sunday?
 
duffer said:
If "any change to the blackout will end up with football league clubs getting significantly more money from TV deals", why do you think football league clubs are not advocating for it?
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They are, aren’t they?
 
duffer said:
A change to the premier league blackout? Nope.

Happy to be proved wrong of course.
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Well their new tv deal proposal has offered to end the 3pm black out for lower leagues. If that goes ahead then the EPL ban won’t be far behind.
 
Can't see the point of it, if you're team isn't on TV how many people actually go to a lower league match instead of just finding a stream
 
duffer said:
Everyone who really wants to can watch every 3pm game for free with about 2 minutes of searching online as it is.
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duffer said:
Quite a lot. You overestimate how many people are happy to/know how to illegally stream a game.
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Seems ever so slightly contradictory.

Besides, not watching it online just means not watching the game. There's still a leap from that to choosing to go to a lower league game with the time that frees up instead, which only a tiny portion of those unable to watch the PL will then do.
 
Is there any evidence people are going to their local non-league matches cause of the blackout...any stats?
Thank God I can access my DSTV subscription in Nigeria online. VPN is a life saver.
 
P-Ro said:
Having attended lower league football for years I really don't think this is a valid argument. Nearly all of the fans who attend the games consider their lower league club as either their only team or their main team. If we still continue to put on the shit games at 3pm then they won't see a marked drop in attendance. Plus there's more money to be made by the PL which can then be distributed to the football league.
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They may well just support that lower league club and have no interest in the premier league club. However, that’s right now. The chances are a lot of them initially fell in love with the club and started following them as they went to a match back in the day where it wasn’t possible to occupy their time watching footy on the telly.

I honestly don’t know how much impact it would have had but I can see why there may be concerns as it’s hard to know how many fans originated from the fact they wanted some footy to watch on a Saturday afternoon and had no alternative other than their local club. If that alternative becomes available, that’s where the impact could be felt for the future generation of fans.
 
Adisa said:
Is there any evidence people are going to their local non-league matches cause of the blackout...any stats?
Thank God I can access my DSTV subscription in Nigeria online. VPN is a life saver.
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Yes. I do it, my dad does it an awful lot. I can take a photo next time if you don't believe me!

I guess it's possible that only me and my dad do it but that seems a bit unlikely.
 
The free streams are pretty bad with pop ups and needing to refresh. Also there's too much of a delay. To watch and stick with it you probably just have one team and are too cheap to pay.

For more neutrals, those slight leanings towards a few teams or one main team miles away and your local team I think an official 3pm service could make those not bother going to their local team but with so many games spread out now I don't think it would be a big effect.

Long term could a problem with how fans are gained, with other alternatives perhaps they never get the bug for a small local team although I tend to find you have those who want to see live games and live events in general, they make the effort to go out and travel and want to be there at the match, concert whatever and those who prefer to watch on TV.
 
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Also, let's be real about who the "people who don't know how to illegally stream games" are.

It disproportionately targets elderly people and families, stopping them from being able to watch PL games on whatever TV service they've been able to afford in the hope that it will push them to spend more money to see lower quality football live. And if they can't afford it or don't have the capacity to attend a live football game rather than watch one, tough shit. Which given the broader cost-of-living crisis isn't exactly an attractive feature of this policy.

Rather than focusing solely on what's good for the football clubs, some thought could be spared to the actual fans and whether they're getting ripped off.
 
Adisa said:
Is there any evidence people are going to their local non-league matches cause of the blackout...any stats?
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It’s absolute nonsense imo mate. I’d say a good 80% of those in the stadium are diehard fans that would attend their lower league teams games regardless of who’s on TV.

I think it’s incredibly disrespectful to fans of lower league teams to insinuate that they only go along because they can’t watch Brighton vs Watford on the box
 
Garethw said:
I think it’s incredibly disrespectful to fans of lower league teams to insinuate that they only go along because they can’t watch Brighton vs Watford on the box
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The actual fans will go anyway.

Its the locals who support someone else but would stay in to watch Man United v Liverpool on telly rather than go to Sutton United live.
 
duffer said:
The actual fans will go anyway.

Its the locals who support someone else but would stay in to watch Man United v Liverpool on telly rather than go to Sutton United live.
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The majority of locals don’t just go for the match. They go for the beers in the pub with their mates before and after the game. It’s an escape from the shit of every day life.

They aren’t going to give up what is possibly their only social event of the week to sit at home on their own watching TV.

The PL could also ensure that the biggest PL games are played on a Sunday to limit your concerns too.
 
Judas said:
And this is why I get sick of all the IPTV stuff like it’s all wonderful all of the time and nothing could possibly go wrong with it. Sorry that happened to you though mate.
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The IPTV I use (paid, 100eur a year) is flawless and has been since the end of January 2020 - I suppose it'll get raided eventually, but almost three years of perfect use is pretty good, no?

Prior to that, I paid for Sky and BT, as you were allowed to stream them in the EU. Shortly after Brexit, VPNs were blocked by both Now and BT Sport (although Now works again on Fire Stick at least via VPN). I do pay for DAZN though as well, which has every premier league game amongst other things.
 
Even if people would rather watch a big game than a non-league one, is it really surprising? People should be allowed to choose to watch whatever they like.
 
Edwards6 said:
Can't see the point of it, if you're team isn't on TV how many people actually go to a lower league match instead of just finding a stream
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I’d imagine a good 5-600k fans go to watch lower league football at the weekend. So the question is, how many of those would be swayed by there being match on the telly. For families I’d suggest it is way more than you think. A significant enough proportion to seriously affect club finances.
 
I understand it for the lower leagues but you can't actually tell me that the 3PM black out is having that much of an impact on Premier League attendance. It also surprises me that the PL haven't realized how much of a money-maker this could be for them if they stuck all of the 3PM games on a Premier league network app or something like that.
 
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