The Premier League’s 3pm UK blackout may be scrapped as part of a new TV rights deal which could also see Sunday night games swapped in as an alternative. The major shake-up means there will be 25 per cent more games broadcast in the UK.
According to the Telegraph, the Women’s Super League is expected to be moved to the 3pm slot without any broadcasting restrictions in place. Sundays, which are typically much quieter when it comes to football with only a handful of games kicking off generally between 2pm and 4.30pm, will be crammed with non-stop action.
Broadcasters are said to be anticipating wall-to-wall coverage on Sundays, starting with noon kick-offs and ending with 6pm matches. More games will also be available for the Friday and Monday slots in the next TV deal.
The next batch of TV rights are understood to be for four years rather than the usual three as the Premier League looks to adopt a model closer to that of their European counterparts.
Sky Sports and TNT Sports (formerly BT Sports) are long-term Premier League broadcasters while Amazon Prime recently entered the fold as well. The current deal, which is due to expire in 2025, is for 200 games split into seven packages and shared between the three broadcasters.
Sky Sports have the most packages, with four sets of rights, equating to 128 matches per season. TNT Sports have two packages – one for the Saturday 12.30pm kick-offs and the other for a set of midweek games.
Meanwhile, Amazon bought one package, which allows them to show Bank Holiday Christmas fixtures and another set of midweek matches. The next deal will see up to 250 games go up for auction with DAZN expected to be in the running for a slice of the pie.
The WSL’s agreement with Sky Sports and the BBC ends next summer. The league signed its first-ever commercial broadcast deal in 2021, with Sky purchasing the rights to show 35 matches a season while the BBC bought 22 games.
