Originally Posted by Rich1977:
“I think they would have passed and be keen to save some 1st picks for later on as its only week three plus also I expect BT are keen to show Jose and Man U early on.”
Quite. While BT can work around picking Spurs v Liverpool, it makes a lot of sense to pass that week, especially if BT knew that they'd be getting Liverpool v Leicester as a third pick in Week 4.
As you say, they'd want a Man Utd game quite early. In the past BT have used first picks to ensure a Man Utd game (or two!) early in the season. I'm not sure it's quite so pressing now. They'd know that Sky would pass either Man Utd v Southampton or Hull v Man Utd, so the trick is to not use a first pick that weekend. And it might also be possible for BT to have used a Package F fourth pick to get the unpicked Man Utd game even if it was the weekend when BT had picked a game in Package B.
So I feel confident that BT would have passed up Spurs v Liverpool, but.....
Originally Posted by Igloo_Man:
“And from Sky's perspective it's a game worth taking with a first pick. Without it they'd be showing Liverpool once in the first four weeks and not showing Tottenham at all.”
This is a very good point. It's hard to see how Sky would have rejigged their picks to accommodate the loss of Spurs v Liverpool. Burnley v Liverpool in Week 2? Possibly, but that would have meant giving up one of Man Utd v Southampton, Sunderland v Boro or (heaven forbid) West Ham v Bournemouth. Could Sky go until Week 5 (Chelsea v Liverpool) without showing Liverpool again? Perhaps, after all they are going until Week 7 before showing Arsenal again. Spurs? They might not matter quite as much but Sky would have wanted to show them before the international break.
One thing I've noticed about Sky's picks over the last few seasons is they don't like to leave things to chance. Perhaps they could have been 80% sure that BT would have passed Liverpool v Spurs back to them, and maybe they could have lived without that game, but I'm not sure. But that does leave the question of why show it in the Saturday 12:30 slot? I suppose week 3 is the only time so far that Sky have shown Man City in the Sunday 16:00 slot. And Sky may have wanted to avoid using a second pick in Package C as that would result in a fourth pick in Package E which would have needed a Friday night.
So perhaps Week 3 is a Package D first pick after all which would leave Sky with one more week to pass in the rest of the season.