http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/art...-frontman.html

Looks like BT want to start up a Gillette soccer Saturday on sky, final score on bbc & now.. See above link to this

World Championship Darts Schedule out tomorrow, may indicate pattern of Sky's games over new Year

Wonder why Sky are only broadcasting 124 matches of their 126 in Ultra HD and not the lot?

Presume only one on final day.

Good thinking. Never thought of that.

I had been wondering the same.

I just found it strange that they wouldn't go the whole hog, for the sake of two more matches, and have the lot in UHD; it's the kind of thing Sky would usually shout from the rooftops, especially with the two biggest things they currently possess - a shiny new UHD service and the Premier League. Seems strange but the final day theory seems plausible enough.

I'm always a bit behind with technology so please humour me.
Just a couple of questions.
Is this Ultra HD channel exclusive to sky Q?
I see BT are having a 4k channel , will you now get thus through sky?

It is exclusive to Sky Q yes... but not all the boxes, just the 'Silver' box. As for the BT UHD channel, there is 'technically' no reason for them not to launch on satellite but given it's a USP of their YouView package and broadband, it remains 'unlikely'.

I never thought they would launch BT Sport on rival TalkTalk's YouView service but a few years down the line they have... so never say never.

But.... back on track!

There is lots of discussion on this type of thing via the Sky threads that you may find interesting.

Thank you

So in weeks 1 to 6 the big game has only been picked for Sun at 4 once

Is this a trend or maybe just due to pre CL weeks ?
1 Sun 4
2 1730
3 1230
4 1230
5 Fri
6 1730

I'm sure Sunday 16:00 will have some big games as the season goes on. I think Sky were wounded a bit in 2013-14 when they had to schedule Liverpool's games with Man City and Chelsea in the 14:05 slot due to quota issues with Package D. So I think Sky like to save the bigger teams in the Sunday 16:00 slot for later in the season. Nevertheless, I do think Sky's opening six Sundays aren't especially great. Leaving to one side BT's first picks (Leicester v Arsenal and Arsenal v Chelsea), Sky could have made their Sunday offerings look a little better had they wanted to.

Beginning with Week 2 I was thinking that Sunderland v Middlesbrough was worthy of Sunday 16:00 and they could have put Man Utd v Southampton in the Sunday 13:30 as a Package G game. But once they decided to show West Ham it had to be Sunday with the Hammers potentially involved in a Europa League qualifier either side. And once it's Sunday it really has to be 16:00 so that Super Sunday can come live from the Olympic Stadium. I know they've hosted it from the 13:30 game in the past but it's generally an exception made for Man Utd v Liverpool games.

It might be some time before we know what happened in Week 3, but I was thinking before the picks were made that Sky would pass second pick in either Week 2 or Week 3. If Sky had first pick in Package A and did want to pass second pick, then they'd have had no choice but to put Spurs v Liverpool in the Sunday 12:30 slot. Man City v West Ham looks like a Package G game and West Brom v Middlesbrough in the 13:30 slot looks like it was chosen so that Sky could say that they had picked every team at least once. The alternative was Watford v Arsenal.

Week 4 precedes Europe so Sky were always going to be limited - Swansea v Chelsea is sensible with a Championship game before it. Week 5, however, was a surprise as Chelsea v Liverpool looked like a first pick week for Sky as it could be shown in the Sunday 16:00 slot. Perhaps they opted to show that on the Friday to save Package D games for later in the season and perhaps they were keen to fill the Sunderland min quota in Package D. Week 6 was also a difficult week for Sky but I was thinking that Stoke v West Brom was a decent enough quota filler for Package D which would also have removed the need to show West Brom v Middlesbrough. I suppose West Ham and Southampton had good seasons last time out and perhaps Sky didn't want to show Stoke in Week 5 and Week 6.

I wont be around to post too much to post over next couple of weeks, so here are my rough predictions for Oct/Nov for what its worth.

Oct 1st- definite Sky pass. 75:25 BT take Spurs V Man City. Sky will probably be happy to throw 4pm slot as a quota pick as Ryder Cup week. Sky might go Friday night with Hull V Chelsea or Swansea V Liverpool. If Sky get pick 1, I suspect they may throw BT a second pick.

Oct 15th- Sky to show Liverpool V Man Utd and Chelsea V Leicester. I suspect Sky leave Man City V Everton for BT (and if Man City V Sunderland was a BT third pick from pack B, if they take Spurs V Man City- big problem for BT on quota). Sky however have Man City pack A issues so it may go untelevised.

Oct 22nd- Chelsea V Man Utd at 4pm on Sun. Sky pass 2nd pick, though suspect Sky will get Bournemouth V Spurs before it if they don't.

Oct 29th- Definite Sky pass and BT return pass back.

5th Nov- I think 60:40 Sky pass Arsenal V Spurs and BT take it. Sky will be annoyed as ideal Sun game following CL. Swansea V Man Utd and Chelsea V Everton not bad alternatives (although Sky will have to watch Chelsea on a Sun- I have them picked nearly every week!)

19th Nov- Sky show Southampton V Liverpool on Super Sunday, and Man Utd V Arsenal on Sat lunch. Spurs V West Ham will probably have to be at Sat 3pm as a result, along with Palace V Man City as BT under quota pressure.

26th Nov- Sky definite pass, BT probable pick though I'm not sure if they go Chelsea V Spurs over Man Utd V West Ham given Spurs quota issues.

Thus 3 definite Sky passes, 1 probable pass, 3 Sky holds. So overall if weeks 2,3,6 were passed- Sky up to 7 of their 15 passes in my book.

In Dec I think Sky could get all their tough passes out the way early- particularly if Man City on three picks in pack B by end of Nov.

4 of Sunderland's 1st five on. Now in disarray and relegation certainties.

Interesting loyalsince - here are my predictions for the next eight rounds:

2016-17 October/November Predictions

I'd have thought that if offered Spurs v Man City then BT will take it. Should that occur then I think Sky will use a third pick in Package G - I reckon Swansea v Liverpool is a very likely candidate. I'd also expect Burnley v Arsenal to be picked given Sky have only picked the Gunners once in the first six weeks.

Does anyone reckon the Merseyside Police would be up for Liverpool v Man Utd on the Monday night of Week 8? What? No? Oh, well in that case expect it to be in it's traditional Sunday 13:30 slot (though it could be a Package D game). I reckon Sky will want to show Man City v Everton - but as loyalsince says - Sky have to be careful with Man City in Package A. This is another week following internationals - can Sky get Man City in the Friday night slot? Or could they schedule it for Sunday 16:00 with the option to move it to Saturday 12:30 should the need arise?

Mourinho's return to Stamford Bridge looks like a must for Sky. I reckon Sky pass second pick which BT use to get Liverpool v West Brom. I think BT would pass third pick to Sky which they would use on Arsenal v Middlesbrough. In Week 10 I reckon Sky go for Sunderland v Arsenal (sat 12:30), Everton v West Ham (sun 13:30), Spurs v Leicester (sun 16:00) and Palace v Liverpool (mon 20:00) leaving BT to get Man Utd v Burnley as a fifth pick.

I agree that Arsenal v Spurs is a game that Sky would like. But that means giving up something another big game. If they do pass the NLD to BT I can see Chelsea v Everton being another third pick in Package G in the Sunday 16:00 slot. Perhaps if Sky do want Arsenal v Spurs then they might consider giving up Man Utd v Arsenal seeing as though that game would be restricted to Saturday 12:30 (or Friday night if they are allowed). I'd have thought BT would pass first pick back to Sky in Week 13 (Chelsea v Spurs) and I can potentially see BT getting Man Utd v Everton as a third pick in Week 14.

Why wouldn't they? By all intents and purposes, Monday night is like any other weeknight except Friday.

In the last 3 years did Sky ever voluntarily pass a big 5 head to head featuring Man Utd?

ie Did BT ever show such a game other than in midweek / BH where they would have got it automatically?

From memory I don't recall it happening and I wouldn't expect it to happen.

There are 20 big 5 head to heads of which 8 feature Man Utd. Those 8 games are essentially the 8 most attractive games of the season for TV (excluding run-in considerations) - so I wouldn't expect Sky to ever voluntarily pass such a game.

One thing I always pick up on but have never queried is the notion of Sky passing and BT also passing the same pick, effectively forcing Sky to take it.

With the sums Sky are paying as primary rights holder, do we really think that BT would have such power as to effectively force Sky to take certain picks/rounds? I personally would have thought that the only broadcaster with any real influence would have been the one that holds Package D.

We've played them in a midweek evening League Cup fixture not so long ago and all passed with no incident so it's not impossible, as you touch on. The only absolute certainties is that it wouldn't be Friday night, Saturday 5.30pm, because the scenes would be horrific, or Sunday 4.15pm. The last one doesn't carry quite as much risk as the other two IMO but Sky have pretty much always taken it for the 1.30pm slot, presumably on police advice.

True - I can't remember Sky having the chance to put it on a Monday night in the past but it's certainly an option this time.


True - so perhaps Chelsea v Man City is a pass in Week 14 instead? What it comes down to is what do Sky want? Arsenal v Spurs or Chelsea v Spurs and another big head to head not featuring Spurs?


Yes. That Sky have five packs and BT only two does not mean that the former has control over the other. While the new structure was designed with the secondary rights holder getting Packages B and F, it was by no mean certain that we'd end up where we are now. As such there will be a clear protocol for how picks are made and we assume that Package B with nine first picks gets to pass first pick to Package A which has only six picks.

I suppose Arsenal v Chelsea could be considered one of the nine worst weekends, but I'd suggest that if Sky did control when they take all 24 of their weekend first picks then this game would have been selected by Sky. I reckon this will be put to bed with the next set of picks.

Man Utd V Liverpool was a Saturday 5.30pm fixture last season. Can't ever remember one at Anfield though

Indeed. It was also played at Old Trafford on a Monday night in 2004.

The "issue" with a Friday night is slightly different to that of late(r) on a Saturday or Sunday. It's a normal working day, which means that within the specific context of just the game of football it's like any other midweek night. The problem is that police resources are generally stretched enough as it is on a Friday night, never mind adding a somewhat acrimonious football fixture into the mix.

The issue with late Saturday and Sunday, of course, is that the vast majority of the crowd will have the day off, affording more time for drinking pre-match.

Good call - I'd forgotten about that. So maybe it is a real possibility.

Few points on above. Agree with mlt11, Manu games first picks. I don't think sky care that much about spurs games, particularly compared to Manu games.

Sky have to keep passing spurs early I think. I also think man city v arsenal not too important for sky, particularly if good back up.

I think sky historically schedule liv v manu at 1330 as nice to put in package and keep police happy, win win.

I think sky will show it at 4pm or on mon if they want to. I can't foresee sky picking it at 4pm on Sun and not showing it then. May as well pick pack d game and show it from pack c.