The 3pm U.K. Blackout

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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There will be some but it will be a tiny proportion.

Grass roots is a different culture and spectacle entirely, just because you like the Premier League doesn’t mean you like all levels of football. It’s a daft and archaic rule.

It would be far more beneficial to grass roots if the TV rights 3pm PL games were sold and a significant % of the earnings were shared with those teams to help keep them afloat.
 
Oranges038 said:
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.
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This! Got a one a couple of months ago and brilliant, it has already paid it's self off by not having to pay for BT Sport.
 
chris123 said:
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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That… that is precisely the point…
 
sullydnl said:
It's pretty obviously an out-of-date measure that is inevitably going to end.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.
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What boils my blood is a big part of the premier league as a product, is the full stadiums and atmosphere, which is down to the British public
 
You see numerous PL club jackets / coats being worn at FL and Non-league games.

Yes the 3pm blackout needs reviewing.

But to say it wouldn't have an impact is a nonsense!
 
Couldn't they just broadcast one 3pm game, I'd doubt it would affect non league that much

Also the 3pm rule shouldn't apply to foreign matches. I doubt there's much crossover between Seria A fans and non league attendees
 
horsechoker said:
Couldn't they just broadcast one 3pm game, I'd doubt it would affect non league that much

Also the 3pm rule shouldn't apply to foreign matches. I doubt there's much crossover between Seria A fans and non league attendees
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You say that, but when you get like Ballague watching El Classico on his phone and commentating for the first twenty minutes is incredibly fun
 
P-Ro said:
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.
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Keep going down by another couple of leagues. I’ve always seen the 3pm as a way of protecting conference and below more than League one/two.
 
duffer said:
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.
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If you choose not to go and see your team just because a different team is on TV then I really don’t think you’re enough of a fan to bother worrying about.
 
Noot said:
If you choose not to go and see your team just because a different team is on TV then I really don’t think you’re enough of a fan to bother worrying about.
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I'll say it again because is seems you missed it:

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.
 
Garethw said:
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
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Couldn’t agree more. I know plenty of lower league fans and I guarantee not a single one would bin off their side just because a game between two teams they don’t support is on the TV.
 
duffer said:
I'll say it again because is seems you missed it:

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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That’s not our problem. People go for the best product.
 
corno_mufc said:
You see numerous PL club jackets / coats being worn at FL and Non-league games.

Yes the 3pm blackout needs reviewing.

But to say it wouldn't have an impact is a nonsense!
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It's always premier or big club only fans who spout it. They just don't understand that if the giants are on TV that rucks the smaller club's floating supporters.

Obviously it doesn't stop the 600 die hards say Accy have. But the 200 they get who decide match to match will think twice.
 
Noot said:
That’s not our problem. People go for the best product.
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That is just as blinkered as those in favour of the Super League.

We should be proud of the pyramid.

And it has already been said, FL and non-league have hundreds of fans who go to a 3pm Saturday.

SOME of these may think twice/ reconsider, if the 3pms are legally broadcast EVERY week.
 
corno_mufc said:
That is just as blinkered as those in favour of the Super League.

We should be proud of the pyramid.

And it has already been said, FL and non-league have hundreds of fans who go to a 3pm Saturday.

SOME of these may think twice/ reconsider, if the 3pms are legally broadcast EVERY week.
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So is that worse than the football league being willing to give up their blackout to tv companies?
 
There isn't a single supporter of the blackout that hasn't and doesn't regularly search for streams of non-televised games.

It's a performative stance that would shatter in an instant were the authorities ever any fecking good at blocking sites that carried these streams.

They support other people not being able to watch 3pm games, as long as they themselves can find a decent stream.
 
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duffer said:
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.
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Would you stop going if you could watch Wolves v Southampton on the TV?
 
It's simple just put the premier league games on at a time when there are no lower league games. No more 3pm games. Stream all games.

This shit isn't rocket science.
 
duffer said:
I'll say it again because is seems you missed it:

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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How many United or Liverpool fans would really be down watching a non league game instead of watching United vs Liverpool in the pub or on the internet?

And I don't think United and Liverpool have even played each other at 3pm on a Saturday for 30 years. Don't see that changing even if the black-out was lifted.
 
stevoc said:
How many United or Liverpool fans would really be down watching a non league game instead of watching United vs Liverpool in the pub or on the internet?

And I don't think United and Liverpool have even played each other at 3pm on a Saturday for 30 years. Don't see that changing even if the black-out was lifted.
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Man United or Liverpool fans? Probably not many. Fans of the 100s of other clubs in Britain? Enough for it to be an issue.

And Man United v Liverpool is never on at 3 because they move it to be televised. If 3 became a televised slot then it would be.
 
Amazing Santos said:
It's simple just put the premier league games on at a time when there are no lower league games. No more 3pm games. Stream all games.

This shit isn't rocket science.
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Except the reason isn't the protection of lower league games. It was at one point. There was a genuine fear any TV football would negatively affect attendance rates, which is why initially only a small fraction of games were made available.

The reason for the blackout continuing to exist is largely two-fold. 3pm Saturday isn't a hugely lucrative TV slot for advertising. Evidence of this is when they permanently shifted the kick-off time of the FA Cup from 3pm for this exact reason, judging that there's a larger TV audience available after 5pm, when most people will have returned home from whatever day time Saturday activity they had been doing.

The other, more important factor, is simple supply and demand. Restricting what you provide artificially increases the price. Ask OPEC. It also builds in near-guarantees of future revenue increase as with each passing deal the skirt lifts and reveals a little more and broadcasters shriek and throw more money at the league as a result.


Games are now restricted for no other reason than it's more lucrative for the league to negotiate rights this way. Once we reach the tipping point and the skirt is lifted enough to the point where there isn't any more to reveal (e.g when each negotiation round that offers more and more games can't go a anywhere else than to offer ALL the games) then suddenly the powers that be will miraculously conclude televised 3pm games are now fine.

In the meantime those who support the blackout will be pretending they always stand on the terrace of their local non-league side at 3pm on a Saturday hoping nobody finds their posts in the various 'gameweek' threads commenting on live on non-televised PL matches with opinions they couldn't possibly form from listening on the radio or following on Teletext
 
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sullydnl said:
Also, let's be real about who the "people who don't know how to illegally stream games" are.
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chris123 said:
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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Even though most people who use IPTV do so “illegally”, the truth is you can actually watch every game in the premier league including 3pm ones legally in the U.K. I don’t use their service but Peacock in the US is around £5 a month and perfectly legal to watch in the U.K. with a VPN connection. Fans will just find alternative options whether legal or illegal eventually so I’d imagine the effect of the blackout is going to end up very minimal. One of biggest benefactors from the blackout right now are foreign broadcasters.
 
stevoc said:
How many United or Liverpool fans would really be down watching a non league game instead of watching United vs Liverpool in the pub or on the internet?

And I don't think United and Liverpool have even played each other at 3pm on a Saturday for 30 years. Don't see that changing even if the black-out was lifted.
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We did in the mid 2000s, I remember it well because I got hit by a ball during the warmup, and we lost 1-0 to a Danny Murphy penalty :lol: :(
 
duffer said:
Man United or Liverpool fans? Probably not many. Fans of the 100s of other clubs in Britain? Enough for it to be an issue.
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The vast majority of those will be watching their own team live or on TV/Stream. Circa 2022 I doubt the amount of people who watch a lower league live on a Saturday afternoon vs watching the team they support on a stream or in the pub is all that sizeable.

duffer said:
And Man United v Liverpool is never on at 3 because they move it to be televised. If 3 became a televised slot then it would be.
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Doubtful mate it's hardly a prime time TV slot for advertisers.

Having said all that I don't personally care if the blackout continues. I just think in this day and age it's pointless.
 
Judas said:
We did in the mid 2000s, I remember it well because I got hit by a ball during the warmup, and we lost 1-0 to a Danny Murphy penalty :lol: :(
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You're right 2004 was it?

I stand corrected once in the best part of 30 years then.
 
City v Leeds or Scum v Scummer next Saturday is 3pm and scheduled for Sky Sports Main Event.
Is that the first time that's happening?
 
Bubz27 said:
City v Leeds or Scum v Scummer next Saturday is 3pm and scheduled for Sky Sports Main Event.
Is that the first time that's happening?
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Happens every year in this round of fixtures.

It's the final weekend of the football league fixtures that weekend so all league games are on Sunday and Monday (therefore no conflict for a 3pm Saturday TV game).
 
Multiple games on at 2pm and only one shown. What’s the excuse?

I wonder what fees BT and sky would charge the day they manage to show more games consistently. Its already a scam.
 
duffer said:
Happens every year in this round of fixtures.

It's the final weekend of the football league fixtures that weekend so all league games are on Sunday and Monday (therefore no conflict for a 3pm Saturday TV game).
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There's a 3pn game shown on Sky or TV every year?
 
Hilarious that you can watch more games abroad than at home. It’s archaic and needs to change.
 
Swedish_Plumber said:
Multiple games on at 2pm and only one shown. What’s the excuse?

I wonder what fees BT and sky would charge the day they manage to show more games consistently. Its already a scam.
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Complete and utter joke honestly. All the games are big ones as well but hey ho we will do what we want. In 2023 to not have a legal stream for these games is so ridiculous
 
duffer said:
I'm sure there have been a fair few in the past few years, especially during the COVID lockdowns when TV games impacting crowd attendances weren't a concern.
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Oh I'm not questioning you. I believe you. Just not something that springs to mind. During COVID, yeah I can definitely imagine there were. Every game was shown then wasn't it.
 
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