IF they were given week 1 clearly take Arsenal vs Liverpool, pass week 2 back, i'd be tempted to pass week 3 back too with it being before an international break, perhaps even use it a quota filler game

I think we pretty much knew that they would take a MNF in the opening round anyway. I didn't factor in a Friday night game on week one. For me, there was no way Sky would debut a Friday night match (FNF?!) without a fair degree of build-up and traditional Sky hype. They will do their usual thing and market it in a way that has you genuinely wondering how you've lived your life without it!

I imagine they will achieve that by plugging endlessly from opening weekend, especially on the first MNF. And of course, it will be given a mention every 15 minutes on SSN.

I reckon the Manchester Derby will be the first Friday Night Football of the season.

@PLDan
@AdamW1982 @premierleague @SkyFootball @btsportfootball @PLSpokesman As usual it will be in the first full week of July.

Next week then

If we have to wait till Friday there will only be 5 weeks till kick off,rather short notice.

http://www.premierleague.com/news/60370

The first changes take place when the League’s UK broadcast partners announce their opening group of live TV matches. This happens in early July and contains broadcast alterations for the first two months of the season (August and September).

TV matches for October and November should be confirmed and announced in early August. For fixtures from December onwards, live TV matches are mostly confirmed on a month-by-month basis.

The Premier League will seek to confirm live TV matches approximately five or six weeks before the start of the month in question. For example, December selections are typically confirmed in mid-October.

The broadcast selections for the season’s final round of fixtures on 21 May, 2017, are usually announced after every club have completed 37 matches. As these matches always kick off simultaneously, there is no direct impact on match-going fans, in terms of rearranged dates or kick-off times.

My guess would've been tomorrow but given that's when Jose speaks to the press for the 1st time as the United manager it could get buried with everything that's like to bring.

'll therefore say it'll be Weds, nothing to go on other than gut instinct.

I had hoped we'd get the first set of picks today - but I'd be surprised if it wasn't before Wednesday. They've had plenty of time to study the fixtures so should be no excuse.

Having thought about the fixtures a little more, I reckon BT will take Spurs v Man City in Week 7 at the expense of the reverse fixture in Week 22. The latter comes in January when BT will have the FA Cup going on and I reckon BT will be keen to get Man City on as soon as possible.

This would then have a knock-on effect. Assuming Sky don't take Spurs v Palace in Week 2 or Spurs v Sunderland in Week 5, Sky would be showing only two of Spurs' first seven games (Everton away in Week 1 and Middlesbrough away in Week 6). Perhaps that would have been acceptable in years gone by, but I don't think so this season. So Sky might opt for Stoke v Spurs in Week 4 rather than Liverpool v Leicester.

2 Euro Semi Finals on Weds and Thursday

I expect the PL to announce the changes on Friday (They did on the similar Friday last season, Season 1 week earlier)

Stoke v Spurs or Liverpool v Leicester surely the latter is the obvious TV pick given Leicester were league winners against the 2nd most popular club.

Last years 3rd placed team away to Stoke doesn't have the same draw.

I'm sure it has been covered somewhere already, so apologies if it has, but on a regular weekend next season what is the maximum number of games that can be televised?

Does anybody think City v Sunderland will be shown on the Friday night due to City's potential involvement in a CL qualifier the following Tuesday?

Notionally there is a maximum of five picks per weekend round. However, in 2013-14 there were six games in two rounds at the end of the season (utilising the Sunday 12:00 slot). Theoretically there is scope for a seven game weekend with the addition of Friday nights. I think that's unlikely, but I could certainly see a six game weekend at the end of the season with games on Friday, Saturday (x2), Sunday (x2) and Monday.

I suppose it's possible that we could get a six game weekend to open the season given the narratives around new managers. The problem Sky have is that they are limited to 10 Friday night games. Given the way the fixtures have fallen, I reckon Sky won't want to waste a Friday game in Week 1. So if Sky want to show Man City v Sunderland (and I don't think they will), then it will be Saturday 12:30.

If Greater Manchester Police agree to it, I reckon the first Friday night game of the season will be the Manchester Derby in Week 4.

That's probably true, but it depends how they view getting a decent number of Spurs games on in the first part of the season. They could go for the games at WHL, but if they are looking for a tasty away game for Spurs then Stoke in Week 4 is a good one. The point is, even with Friday night games, they can still only pick a maximum of two games involving Champions League teams preceding the first few European midweeks.

Sky have a Championship game live on Friday 12 August, so I can't see a Friday Night Premier League game that weekend.

Friday 9th September

Argentina for example play in Venezuela on the Wednesday morning our time

Cant see that happening

Aguero would likely have to miss it !!!

I can't link until later but a Boro fan text me to say tv games out tomorrow as per local press, with sky spokesman quoted

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/f...ether-11570097

Thanks. Makes sense.

Rumour that Bournemouth V Man City will be a Friday night. On the surface I think this is wrong as Man City in CL the previous week. I think Sky will try to hold back some of these games until CL in Feb time.

However it may be that the game is scheduled for the Friday, with proviso that it switches if Man City play on Wed before.

Edit: Personally I don't think this is the case, and some Man City fans maybe want to wind their fellow supporters up, especially as Man City could be in Europa- but I suppose its possible

I think BT games should be easy ish to spot, if the PL allow some flexibility however I think getting Sky games into packages will be very hard, as I think the PL may allow some switches. For example not really fair to Sky that Man City can possibly only play Sat for a number of rounds

Interesting will be Friday games later in the season. I wonder if before a CL quarter Sky will be able to pick for example Arsenal on the Sunday at 1330, but be able to move it to Fri if they play Tue (and free the week before or play Tue the week before in a different comp)

City haven't qualified for the CL groups yet, so if the inconceivable happens........

Word is Sky and BT are debating whether to release it at 9am or 1pm. And no surprises to anyone but City will get the bulk of the first round fixtures on TV (Saturdays, Mondays, Fridays), closely followed by United.

I think it is conceivable that the PL will allow some games to be scheduled for Friday with the game moving to Sunday 12:00 if required. But I would be very surprised if that's allowed early in the season. Sky have got many slots to use and there's no need to mess supporters around in September.

Article in the mirror infers sky have Liverpool, Chelsea, spurs opening weekend.

Leicester and Manu the week after.

So I'd guess sky passed both weeks, and bt took mourinho first.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...-first-8363881

If I had to guess Sky will show last years top 4 opening weekend. Man City Sat lunch, then the other three.

BT pass week two. To ensure Sky get Super Sunday of Man U V Southampton and Leicester V Arsenal, I think Sky use pack A for Sunderland V Boro then show Man U at 13.30 with second pick, pick maybe West Ham on Mon and then Leicester V Arsenal as a 4th.

Leaves BT with Watford V Chelsea.

If I was sky I'd pass weeks 1,2 and 3 and Id guess BT would go Spurs V Liverpool (50%), Hull V Man Utd (45%), pass back to Sky 5%. Sky to go Man City V West Ham at 13.30 on Sun, and then either Liverpool or Man Utd at 4pm if BT pick one of them.

Given that BT usually only get about two to three weekend big 5 head to heads (OK, they may get one or two more with Sky going down from 20 to 18 controlling weekends) then it would be a big call to pass on one voluntarily.

EDIT: Having read the article I'm not sure it really does infer Sky have Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs. It just suggests they are likely TV games.

You could be right mlt11. My guess was that journalist rang sky (as they feature) and journalist gave them strong hints. I'm surprised Chelsea v west ham seen as more attractive than mourinho first game.

I also realised my post was wrong, sky can't take top 4 if they pick Chelsea. Either hull or man city, not both.

On paper Chelsea v West Ham is a marginally more attractive fixture than Bournemouth v Man Utd. But as it's Mourinho's first game at Man Utd, the latter takes precedence. We sometimes forget on here that not everyone thinks like Sky and BT so the journalist that wrote the story simply picked out the three games that looked most attractive to them.