On the contrary that would be an excellent move. At least the cartel would be unable to fleece fans through the turnstiles to the same extent as there would be increased competition from TV and fans would be guaranteed to see the games they want to.

Indeed, and never say never.

As someone often says, it is always Christmas Eve on this thread.

Seriously, though, last season we got 64 days notice on the first weekend of the October/November picks. If this season's were released today that would be 53 days notice. It's not a problem, but we're getting to the point where I'm thinking they could have given us the picks for Week 7 (Oct 1/2) in the first batch and then waited until after the Champions League draw to give us Week 8 (Oct 15/16) onwards.

The Champions League Draw is on August 25, I'm sure they could do the picks by Friday 2 September which would give six weeks notice for Week 8, and then everyone would know the days teams were playing on in Europe.

I just can't see there being an appetite for that from either the broadcasters or the viewers. Doesn't research suggest that most people only watch 1 game a weekend anyway?

They are always released well before the CL Draw. Can't see them waiting until then. Tbh I think this is the first time we have went into August still not knowing the Oct/Nov fixtures

Amazing when you think that the NFL released it's entire seasons schedule months ago WITH the TV games picked.

I wasn't suggesting that we won't get them until then, just that if they are going to wait this long for Weeks 7-13, they'd be better off giving us Weeks 1-7 and then wait until the end of August to give us 8-13.


It was most useful when planning my trip a couple of years ago.

But it has to be done like that because of the Monday and Thursday night games. You have to plan the schedule around those games (and the Wembley fixtures) so that nobody gets a severe disadvantage.

UOTE=TLG86;83506743]As someone often says, it is always Christmas Eve on this thread.

Seriously, though, last season we got 64 days notice on the first weekend of the October/November picks. If this season's were released today that would be 53 days notice. It's not a problem, but we're getting to the point where I'm thinking they could have given us the picks for Week 7 (Oct 1/2) in the first batch and then waited until after the Champions League draw to give us Week 8 (Oct 15/16) onwards.

The Champions League Draw is on August 25, I'm sure they could do the picks by Friday 2 September which would give six weeks notice for Week 8, and then everyone would know the days teams were playing on in Europe.[/quote]

Agreed. It's a balance but most of us accept that some fixtures will have shorter notice. The real problem is not knowing the announcement date. I imagine for most of us who may take some holiday to attend games, or have a long weekend around one it would be nice to say, hi I may take 21st Nov off on leave, I'll know on xx date rather than I may take 21st Nov off but not sure

Logically, there would be an appetite from supporters of the teams who aren't on TV on any given weekend and, for whatever reason, cannot get to the game?

The majority of PL games would get more viewers than any game from any other league that broadcasters currently show. Of course, showing a PL game would cost a lot more.

The thought of the PL weekend being...

Fri 8pm
Sat 12pm
Sat 5:15pm
Sat 8pm
Sun 12pm
Sun 2pm
Sun 4pm
Sun 6pm
Sun 8pm
Mon 8pm

...might make some salivate at the thought of non-stop football for 4 days, but it would be horrible IMO. Having lots of games on at a central slot (Sat 3pm) means lots of games at the same time, which allows people to plan around that slot. The bigger teams invariably play alot of games outside of that slot, but most teams outside of the Big 6 play at least a dozen of their 19 home games at 3pm Sat. To then tell people that their kick-off time could be one of 10 different slots over 4 days would play havoc with match going fans, especially away ones.

The people who run our rail networks are not sophisticated or seemingly bothered enough to allow thousands of people to go from one place to another after 10pm on most nights, and this should be a big factor.

I'm not suggesting this will ever happen, but the mere thought of it depresses me. It would also ruin things like MOTD, with only 3-4 games on a Saturday. This is still the show that the most football fans watch, and is a part of the national footballing culture. There is no reason for every game to be shown on TV IMO. 4-5 every weekend is more than enough.

I agree - but I don't think we need to worry for quite some time.

We basically now know the position for the next 6 years - 168 live games for 16/19 and then 190 games for 19/22 (which I don't see as a massive change) - so no serious prospect of any really fundamental change pre 2022/23 - which is a long way off.

Having thought for a while I think the most likely package structure is:

- 30 @ Sat 12.30
- 30 @ Sat 5.30
- 30 @ Sun 1.30
- 30 @ Sun 4.00

- 12 - split 6 @ midweek + 6 @ Sat 12.30/5.30
- 12 - split 8 @ Bank Hols + 4 @ Sun 1.30pm/4.00

That then leaves 46 games to be split between Fri, Mon (and possibly Sun 12.00). These would presumably be split between two packages but that split could be almost anything - ie 2 packages of 23 or some other combination.

But I think it's almost certain it'll go up from 7 to at least 8 packages in total.

Re yesterday's discussion there would be literally zero spare slots on Sat and just 2 spare slots on Sun. So whoever has the Sat packages would be picking a game in every single slot - including the last day and on FA Cup QF and SF weekends. That in turn would mean potential simulcasts - and by the same broadcaster - eg if BT wins Sat package and has FA Cup then they could end up with simultaneous games (albeit there's always the chance of the PL game being postponed).

In terms of max quota the big packages remain 5 and the small packages would be 2 (conscious of the midweek issue but I think they just do a fix so no big club has 3 big midweek games).

It's then down to the Fri and Mon packages - if they were both 4 the total max goes to 32 which looks too high. So maybe 7 in total between those 2 packages (made easier if they aren't the same size - say Fri 26 and Mon 20) to give 31.

That's very interesting mlt11, thank you. Where it will get tricky is the potential for games to be moved to the Sunday due to the Europa League. Right now there is little conflict for the 12:00 slot but with more games will come an increased potential for conflict. Furthermore, the current Package E works because of the flexibility to use either the Monday or the Friday. A package without such flexibility is likely to be unappealing, but then I guess they will be top up packages.

One other thing, the OFCOM press release stated that:


While I think in reality that means the next set of rights will be for 190 live games, I don't think we can entirely rule out a higher number.

Is there any information on which broadcaster, if any, will be showing Saturday night Premier League highlights in the Republic of Ireland this season?

The option for the rights to show them have not been taken (yet)...

It went right to the wire at the last rights cycle though

Yes, very sensible. Id leave Sun 12pm free for overspill games from either of these packages.

Of course there could be a winter break by 2019, although Id guess this would be possibly compensated by cup QF moving to a midweek round and no R5 replays (for a different thread)

With regards this year, with FL to announce tomorrow, it appears that PL fixtures drafted. I wonder if hold up could be Liverpool V Man Utd at 4pm on Sun or Arsenal V Spurs at 5.30pm on Sat or Sun at 4pm. Maybe there has been an objection and PL waiting to resolve before publishing.

RTÉ were apparently paying €1.3m/year for the highlights package when they had it a few years back - you would have to think it would be even less now!

Amazing to think none of them have snapped it up.

Eirsport secure the rights for this season it seems - no major announcement but it's added to the EPG for next Saturday at 9pm.

Right to the wire again

It's not even on their own website TV Guide yet

I do not doubt what you say but there is still nothing added to their website guide, nor anything mentioned on their social media outlets.

Is there a "blurb" on the EPG.

With FL TV games due to be announced at 4pm but no pre-warning about PL games I'm assuming we won't see any announced today?

Don't hold your breath Gray77. It would be nice to know what the hold up is, I wonder if one of the broadcasters is challenging the process? They've had five weeks since the last picks were announced, that's seems like more than enough time to get this done.

Nope on Sky it's been listed when you skip forward to next Saturday.

Out of interest what is the programme name?

Could we have a separate thread for our Irish friends ???

Why do they need a separate thread?