What cup final? Sheff Weds are a local team but we sure as heck don't consider it to be a cup final. That's literally the first time I've ever seen it be classed as a cup final, be it our fans, Sheff Weds fans or anyone at all including on the forum I generally go on. Even when we play Leeds it's more their cup final than ours (regardless of what they say, increase in attendance which is higher for them at theirs than it is for us at ours, tickets sold, trying to get tickets in the home end which only occurs when we play them at our place whereas we don't always even sell out at Elland Road, them pretending not to care yet going beserk when they score, etc).

Anyway, technically all that is off topic (and despite that, yes we lost on Sunday and though we maybe possibly deserved a draw, we definitely didn't deserve to win as we weren't as good as we usually are and Wednesday, quite simply, and being honest about it, played better than we did and therefore I can't complain too much other than the fact we lost and I'd rather we'd have won, obviously).

All that is off topic too (sorry guys!)

So why are the non-UK televised Sunday games involving a Europa League team (which are still televised overseas) now kicking off at the same time as the SKY match(es) instead of at 3pm like they used to then?

Although not confirmed as fact, my perception of this is that it's done purely for consistency.

Also, as is quite often the case, especially on quota filling weeks, if there is another match kicking off on the Sunday, the international broadcaster doesn't always go with the game that Sky are showing as their lead / main game.

Because it's such a minor change that it makes very little difference, and I expect that, yes, there may be some cases where an overseas broadcaster has a contract to show 2 Sunday games and the overlap would make that impossible. But I don't think that takes anything away from the original point, which is that the overseas rights are a secondary (or even tertiary) concern.

Most overseas broadcasters can show all the games on Sundays.

In any countries where there is a split - and they are rare - broadcasters have more than one channel to show games anyway.

In the cases of two games kicking off at the same time, whether the kick-off time is staggered or concurrent, two channels are needed.

The Swansea v Man U game is noticably strange

Liverpool play at 215
Man U at 3

I guess overseas TV only have one half clashing rather than the whole match if it had been 215

The UK Tv coverage has no Man U live so kick off time is not important to Sky or BT on this one

Yes, I've raised that a couple of times in this thread already.

There must be a reason for it...

Even more evidence that the KO times have little relevance to overseas TV then.

Ok, so if it's nothing to do with overseas tv rights I'll repeat the question: Why are games that are moved to Sunday due to the Europa league, and which are not televised in the UK, now kicking off at the same time as the televised games, when previously they always kicked off at 3.00?

You're confusing two issues.

It was originally suggested that the domestic TV packs and picks where influenced by overseas rights, but that's not the case.

Matches moved because of Europa League involvement that aren't shown live in the UK are generally in one of the normal TV slots because that's where overseas broadcasters expect to find them on a Sunday. So yes, there's overseas rights influence there. But not on domestic TV picks.

No, I'm not confused,it's only in the last two or three years or so that the non-UK televised games have been moved to the tv slots, before that they always kicked off at 3.00, so my question remains, why the change?

The answer IS to satisfy the overseas markets

You're confused about the original point, which was a suggestion that domestic TV games are being influenced by the overseas market. Which is rubbish.

Nobody even raised the non-UK televised games until you came along.


Yes, but as I said he's confusing two different things.

Would be interesting to know.

I think if you are going to the Swansea V Man U game you'll be glad of a 3pm kick off so you can catch all the Arsenal v Spurs game in the pub before. Maybe the PL/ Swansea FC are doing this to accommodate pubs in Swansea area, after all they pay a fortune to show PL.

Other factor could be the 8 FA Cup first round matches being scheduled for 2pm and Police wanting to help Sunday traffic.

Really wasn't sure where to put this, but..... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37728370

This article says starting March 2017, so there should be no issues at all about fixture congestion due to cup rearrangements

Hopefully people will stop freaking out about fixture congestion now!

Bring back FA Cup Quarter Final Replays!

Premier League ‏@premierleague 28m28 minutes ago
FIXTURE AMENDMENT: WBA will now host Swansea on Wednesday 14 December at 2000 GMT, while Saints play Boro at 1415 GMT on Sunday 11 December

Here is an interesting theory on the radio rights from the Radio Football Commentators and Reporters Thread. For those who don't know, things have changed a bit this season in terms of which station covers which of the 5:30pm/1:30pm slots. BBC 5 live have been broadcasting a few games in each of those slots, whereas, under the previous contract, TalkSport had them pretty much exclusively.

The theory here is that the games in those slots that 5 live pick up is dependant on which TV package the game comes from. I've posted it here because, if it's true, it might go some way to help out those of you who like to predict which games come from which package.

Link to post: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...&postcount=541

That would imply that Palace v West Ham was a Package F game, which I find hard to believe. I'll take a closer look at it later.

If the Radio Point is correct it could be a HUGE Clue for Us

Based on TalkSport Website the following Games would be in Package F


18-Sep-16 Watford v Man Utd 12:00 BT
15-Oct-16 Crystal Palace v West Ham 17:30 BT
29-Oct-16 Crystal Palace v Liverpool 17:30 BT
19-Nov-16 Tottenham v West Ham 17:30 BT
26-Nov-16 Burnley v Man City 12:30 BT
11-Dec-16 Chelsea v West Brom 12:00 BT
13-Dec-16 Everton v Arsenal 19:45 BT
14-Dec-16 Crystal Palace v Man Utd 20:00 BT

And we have one confirmed for Package G

23-Oct-16 Man City v Southampton 13:30 SKY

And the Following would be In Package C

14-Aug-16 Bournemouth v Man Utd 13:30 SKY
21-Aug-16 Sunderland v Middlesbrough 13:30 SKY
28-Aug-16 West Brom v Middlesbrough 13:30 SKY
18-Sep-16 Crystal Palace v Stoke 14:15 SKY
02-Oct-16 Tottenham v Man City 14:15 SKY
15-Oct-16 Chelsea v Leicester 17:30 SKY
30-Oct-16 Everton v West Ham 13:30 SKY
06-Nov-16 Liverpool v Watford 14:15 SKY
27-Nov-16 Arsenal v Bournemouth 14:15 SKY
04-Dec-16 Bournemouth v Liverpool 13:30 SKY
11-Dec-16 Man Utd v Tottenham 14:15 SKY
18-Dec-16 Bournemouth v Southampton 13:30 SKY

And Finally the following are in Package B

13-Aug-16 Man City v Sunderland 17:30 BT
20-Aug-16 Leicester v Arsenal 17:30 BT
27-Aug-16 Hull v Man Utd 17:30 BT
10-Sep-16 Liverpool v Leicester 17:30 BT
17-Sep-16 Everton v Middlesbrough 17:30 BT
24-Sep-16 Arsenal v Chelsea 17:30 BT
02-Oct-16 Man Utd v Stoke 12:00 BT
22-Oct-16 Liverpool v West Brom 17:30 BT
05-Nov-16 Chelsea v Everton 17:30 BT
06-Nov-16 Arsenal v Tottenham 12:00 BT
26-Nov-16 Chelsea v Tottenham 17:30 BT
03-Dec-16 West Ham v Arsenal 17:30 BT
10-Dec-16 Leicester v Man City 17:30 BT
17-Dec-16 West Brom v Man Utd 17:30 BT

Cant Confirm A,D or E as BBC Radio must have the lot

Package F picks would therefore be

18-Sep-16 Watford v Man Utd 12:00 BT
15-Oct-16 Crystal Palace v West Ham 17:30 BT
29-Oct-16 Crystal Palace v Liverpool 17:30 BT
19-Nov-16 Tottenham v West Ham 17:30 BT
26-Nov-16 Burnley v Man City 12:30 BT
11-Dec-16 Chelsea v West Brom 12:00 BT
13-Dec-16 Everton v Arsenal 19:45 BT
14-Dec-16 Crystal Palace v Man Utd 20:00 BT
31-Jan-17 Liverpool v Chelsea 20:00 BT
01-Feb-17 West Ham v Man City 19:45 BT

With 4 Games to Pick

I think this is generally true - TalkSport used to promote their 5.30 and 1.30 commentaries as being "in association with Sky Sports" which would suggest that there was some sort of link - but I wouldn't be convinced that it's a definitive determinator of which package a game came from...
Last edited by brundlebud : 25-10-2016 at 15:57

The Link you state is because Murdoch owns Talk SPORT now !!!!