EFL wants Saturday 3pm games on terrestrial TV

[Day]

 

[Day]

Quotes from the article, EFL Commercial Director Ben Wright

“The bulk of the interest will come from pay or subscription-based models, because I think that is the model in the UK at the moment.”

“free-to-air could be really, really important for us”

“We moved our highlights this summer to ITV and one of the key reasons we did that was not just the 9pm slot they’ve given us on ITV4 but the repeat on ITV1 on Saturday evening after Match of the Day and again on Sunday morning.

“That’s just an example of that kind of mix and that mix working harder for us. And if, ultimately, you put more of your stuff on a pay platform or on an OTT [over-the-top] platform then I think that exposure piece and that engagement piece and the ability to do stuff with those platforms, or on your own, is really, really, really important.

“And, so, the mix you talk about on that ECB deal, I completely get why they did that and that is something we would definitely consider.”

[GenBr]

How would this work? Surely Sky bids the most for the rights and thats why they get to move all the games around to whatever they want.

Or are they just going to ignore the sky bid to give it to terrestrial tv? IN which case the EFL gets even less money, no?

 

[Ghost of Clough]

40 minutes ago, GenBr said:

How would this work? Surely Sky bids the most for the rights and thats why they get to move all the games around to whatever they want.

Or are they just going to ignore the sky bid to give it to terrestrial tv? IN which case the EFL gets even less money, no?

 

I imagine it will be as well as. Sky get x number of games for £xxm, ITV get y games for £yym, etc..
Same way as Sky, BT, Amazon show PL games.

[RadioactiveWaste]

2 hours ago, Ghost of Clough said:

I imagine it will be as well as. Sky get x number of games for £xxm, ITV get y games for £yym, etc..
Same way as Sky, BT, Amazon show PL games.

The other way would be to say X proportion of the games must be shown free to air, which sky could do, but probably wouldn't be bending over to do.

I like the idea of only clubs streams or free to air, but I don't see that flying in the money stakes. "we can't take less than we could make for our member clubs" see cricket ad infinitum.

[Day]

I’m sure Sky will be aware the Soccer Saturday viewing numbers are dropping, the Jeff Stelling departure will be the final nail in the coffin, so to lose the 3pm blackout won’t bother them too much.

Can only see terrestrial TV getting one of those a month, with the rest going to Amazon Prime and Sky keeping the games they always had.

It has the potential for a lot more money as long as they stand firm against Sky Sports.

[PistoldPete]

42 minutes ago, David said:

I’m sure Sky will be aware the Soccer Saturday viewing numbers are dropping, the Jeff Stelling departure will be the final nail in the coffin, so to lose the 3pm blackout won’t bother them too much.

Can only see terrestrial TV getting one of those a month, with the rest going to Amazon Prime and Sky keeping the games they always had.

It has the potential for a lot more money as long as they stand firm against Sky Sports.

I thought Jeff Stelling was staying. Never know why people watched that anyway. Some old farts telling you what they are watching on telly. 

[Day]

12 minutes ago, PistoldPete said:

I thought Jeff Stelling was staying. Never know why people watched that anyway. Some old farts telling you what they are watching on telly. 

Last season was meant to be his last, said he'd stay on another year.

The old farts were his mates, they gelled well together but one by one have been replaced by younger pundits.

Not the same anymore, although to be fair I haven't watched it recently so may have improved.

Viewing numbers will struggle with known methods of circumventing location to watch streams.

[Ram-Alf]

28 minutes ago, David said:

Last season was meant to be his last, said he'd stay on another year.

The old farts were his mates, they gelled well together but one by one have been replaced by younger pundits.

Not the same anymore, although to be fair I haven't watched it recently so may have improved.

Viewing numbers will struggle with known methods of circumventing location to watch streams.

I'm binning Sky sports at the end of November, Daughter was round on Tuesday and sorted me with football on my Fire TV...all for free including 3pm kick offs on Saturday ?

Edited October 14, 2022 by Unlucky Alf

[alexxxxx]

On 14/10/2022 at 10:17, David said:

Last season was meant to be his last, said he'd stay on another year.

The old farts were his mates, they gelled well together but one by one have been replaced by younger pundits.

Not the same anymore, although to be fair I haven't watched it recently so may have improved.

Viewing numbers will struggle with known methods of circumventing location to watch streams.

Sky sports soccer Saturday stopped being relevant when they took it off Freeview.

Im not sure having 3pm games on TV would damage people watching their own teams tbh. It would impact someone like me who regularly go to non league games because their team is too far away to watch regularly - particularly how everything's going up. I'd be more likely to stay at home and watch derby on telly.

[FlyBritishMidland]

10 hours ago, alexxxxx said:

Sky sports soccer Saturday stopped being relevant when they took it off Freeview.

Im not sure having 3pm games on TV would damage people watching their own teams tbh. It would impact someone like me who regularly go to non league games because their team is too far away to watch regularly - particularly how everything's going up. I'd be more likely to stay at home and watch derby on telly.

That’s a very good point.  All EFL clubs will retain season tickets and I suspect you’d still get quite a few on a match-by-match basis.  But grass roots could take a hit.  Some will prefer to stay at home on a wet Saturday afternoon to watch their team in the Championship rather than a local non-league game.  But the effect may not be felt for a number of years as, just like in the EFL, there’ll be those who go regardless.  But the younger generation, some of which will go to to non-league games, may not bother.

A short-term decision that may damage the wider game in the future.

[Ghost of Clough]

There's essentially three groups of people:
   1. Those who currently go to games
   2. Those who stream from home (even in the UK on Saturdays at 3pm!)
   3. Those who don't watch live or on a stream

Those who regularly attend games in person still will
Those who were watching from home still will (or even pop down the pub)
Most of those who don't watch will still not watch, but a few may actually decide to tune in.

[Sparkle]

It’s a small pain to the sky sports package but the EFL signing deals with other TV providers seriously hurts what sky sports could offer to their Domestic subscribers and in turn hurts what they would pay for the premiership contract - I actually think the EFL would do well if it got a TV deal with BT sport