Premier League on TV, 2014-15

icdg

First fixtures announced:
Sky
http://m.skysports.com/article/sports//9381737

Setanta and BT:
http://www.setanta.com/ie/van-gaal-debut-on-setanta-sports-pack/

traecy1

Do Setanta now have quotas like BT & Sky. Very strange choices for the 3pm games on October 18th, October 25th and November 1st. Surely there's no way they'd pick West Brom v Crystal Palace over Liverpool v Hull or Sunderland v Arsenal if they had a free choice.

icdg

Very odd picks alright. I always understood they had free reign to pick whatever 3pm KO they wanted once Sky and BT had picked there's. There are some relatively strong games those weeks that Setanta have passed.

The only thing I can think of is if the Premier League is now making the pick for them.

radiowaves

The confusion escalates following the strange choice for final match of last season.

The only value in the 3pm rights package is (was?) the freedom to pick at the scraps left over after UK TV picks were made.

If Setanta have accepted a devaluing in their rights their subscriber base will decrease accordingly.

A date not mentioned by Traecy1 which happens to be the most significant is September 27th. This represents the first opportunity for Setanta to show Manchester United and they've passed.

In addition to the Liverpool passes mentioned this represents a significant shift in the way Setanta makes their picks.

Two things are possibly at play here.

ICDG's suggestion that the Premier League are forcing picks on them seems to be the logical conclusion.

The question that follows is: for what reason?

Is it being imposed on all European broadcasters? If so it is obviously because of piracy. In a further attempt to stop the easy availability of more than one 3pm, forcing the same match on all European broadcasters would be one step forward and two steps back. VPNs and/or IPTV is gaining ground and geographical restrictions no longer apply.

Is it being imposed solely on Setanta? If so it might be because Setanta have aligned themselves with BT. It is possible that the Premier League, either of their own volition or acting as a result of a complaint by Sky, have forced restrictions on Setanta.

With Manchester United and Liverpool 3pms the Setanta/BT coalition is very attractive. Without them their biggest selling point is gone.

One thing we can say with certainty. Setanta didn't make those picks themselves.

radiowaves

One other thing (more amusing than confusing).

In BT's publicity they've listed their final November game for Saturday November 30th.

Independently, Setanta have done the same thing

icdg

radiowaves wrote: »

Is it being imposed on all European broadcasters? If so it is obviously because of piracy. In a further attempt to stop the easy availability of more than one 3pm, forcing the same match on all European broadcasters would be one step forward and two steps back. VPNs and/or IPTV is gaining ground and geographical restrictions no longer apply.

Is it being imposed solely on Setanta? If so it might be because Setanta have aligned themselves with BT. It is possible that the Premier League, either of their own volition or acting as a result of a complaint by Sky, have forced restrictions on Setanta.

Well, we do know that the Premier League have imposed restrictions, at least on the satellite broadcasts of some European broadcasters, limiting them to one 3pm KO - a rule that always applied to the Irish rights holder. At the time it was observed that such a restriction would only properly work if all European rights holders were limited to the same match. It may be that the Premier League has now decided to do that. It would also explain why Setanta's fixtures came out simultaneously with Sky/BT instead of the slight time lag we've previously seen.

munchkin_utd

radiowaves wrote: »

<snip>
The question that follows is: for what reason?

Is it being imposed on all European broadcasters? If so it is obviously because of piracy. In a further attempt to stop the easy availability of more than one 3pm, forcing the same match on all European broadcasters would be one step forward and two steps back. VPNs and/or IPTV is gaining ground and geographical restrictions no longer apply.

Is it being imposed solely on Setanta? If so it might be because Setanta have aligned themselves with BT. It is possible that the Premier League, either of their own volition or acting as a result of a complaint by Sky, have forced restrictions on Setanta.
<snip>

cant say for other territories, but Sky germany has gone to sh1te over the past year in the permier league coverage.
Theres only 1 opening weekend game being shown, 3 the next weekend, but the max they show is 3 and even then often missing a decent monday night match. Commentary used to be available in English on an additional audio channel but thats now gone too at the request/ demand of the league themselves.
At least theres now every match commentary via sports talk internationally since last year which can compensate somewhat for lack of matches/ english commentary on sky DE.

radiowaves

icdg wrote: »

Well, we do know that the Premier League have imposed restrictions, at least on the satellite broadcasts of some European broadcasters, limiting them to one 3pm KO - a rule that always applied to the Irish rights holder. At the time it was observed that such a restriction would only properly work if all European rights holders were limited to the same match. It may be that the Premier League has now decided to do that. It would also explain why Setanta's fixtures came out simultaneously with Sky/BT instead of the slight time lag we've previously seen.

A fair point (I was one of those making that observation about single 3pms needing to be universally applied).

Of course the fact that Setanta are on 28.2 might also work against them (another point in favour of the idea that the restriction will have only been placed on them).

We won't know until European broadcasters start announcing their 3pms - in the past that was no further in advance than a week (give or take).

What we do know is that the restrictions are only leading to a proliferation of other methods of piracy.

radiowaves

munchkin_utd wrote: »

cant say for other territories, but Sky germany has gone to sh1te over the past year in the permier league coverage.
Theres only 1 opening weekend game being shown, 3 the next weekend, but the max they show is 3 and even then often missing a decent monday night match. Commentary used to be available in English on an additional audio channel but thats now gone too at the request/ demand of the league themselves.
At least theres now every match commentary via sports talk internationally since last year which can compensate somewhat for lack of matches/ english commentary on sky DE.

It's just Sky Deutschland.

Other territories still have (had) as much coverage as they always had (3pm restriction and English commentary notwithstanding).

In terms of foreign subs for the sole purpose of watching the Premier League, Sky Deutschland is one of the worst choices you could make

munchkin_utd

radiowaves wrote: »

It's just Sky Deutschland.

Other territories still have (had) as much coverage as they always had (3pm restriction and English commentary notwithstanding).

In terms of foreign subs for the sole purpose of watching the Premier League, Sky Deutschland is one of the worst choices you could make

I live in germany, have cable tv, cant put up a satelite dish, so its all I can get.

On the other hand, I only pay 25euro a month, including sky+ box and HD, and movies and the sports package includes every champions league game and all major golf tournaments, so cant complain!

It is noticable that their priority and highest ratings are defintely the Bundesliga, but you also get the impression that they arent totally free in their choices and aren't showing half as much as the used to.
Like in many other matters I blame the british army, as theres 100s of thousands of ex servicemen living up round Hannover and the likes which make it too easy for folks in the UK to source sky DE boxes - which then has an influence on what the permier league is willing to be shown.

radiowaves

munchkin_utd wrote: »

I live in germany, have cable tv, cant put up a satelite dish, so its all I can get.

On the other hand, I only pay 25euro a month, including sky+ box and HD, and movies and the sports package includes every champions league game and all major golf tournaments, so cant complain!

It is noticable that their priority and highest ratings are defintely the Bundesliga, but you also get the impression that they arent totally free in their choices and aren't showing half as much as the used to.
Like in many other matters, I blame the british army as theres 100s of thousands of ex servicemen living up round Hannover and the likes which make it too easy for folks in the UK to source sky DE boxes - which then has an influence on what the permier league is willing to be shown.

Sky Deutschland have the same package of rights (380 games - only live restriction is one 3pm) as all other broadcasters.

The only influence the Premier League exert is the 3pm restriction (Sky De don't show any because of the Bundesliga) and the restriction on English language commentary.

They have not imposed any restriction on showing matches outside the 3pm Saturday window on any broadcaster. This is despite (in many cases) easy availability in the UK for any number of reasons. Even the broadcasters who had their 3pms taken from them altogether last season (Fox Italia and Diema/Nova Bulgaria) were still free to show all other games.

Their main concern is the 3pm TV blackout in the UK.

kn

I wonder if Setanta have been forced into strange picks by a clause that affects Sky/BT of showing each team a set minimum number of times?

radiowaves

kn wrote: »

I wonder if Setanta have been forced into strange picks by a clause that affects Sky/BT of showing each team a set minimum number of times?

Sky picks from different packages so they don't figure.

BT's minimum clause could have no bearing - Setanta would still be free to pick above any minimum.

Do you mean BT's maximum clause?

Even in that case it couldn't apply directly - BT's picks will be totally independent of Setanta's in that regard otherwise UKTV picks would be affected. BT will easily max out on certain teams; if BT's quotas affected Setanta they wouldn't be able to show certain teams at all.

Your idea has some merit if you consider that Setanta may have been informed they can only show any team a certain number of teams across their package (which I suggested in my original post).

This might explain why no team is being shown more than 4 times across BT/Setanta and why a team like Stoke <sarcasm alert> with their huge Irish support base </sarcasm alert> are being shown more than once on Setanta yet Manchester United only feature once.

I believe this is a restriction solely on Setanta rather than across Europe - other providers have the choice to show all of the UK TV shifted matches so restrictions on their 3pms would make no sense in regard of a min/max quota.

Besides Setanta are unique in regards of being sold a 3pm package.
Besides Setanta are unique in regards of being on 28.2 and available via a Skybox.
Besides Setanta are unique in regards aligning themselves with BT, which suited them last year but may now be working against them.

It's not practical to impose min/max quotas on Setanta independent of BT because it is impossible to say what matches will be available.

BTW from Setanta's webpage it seems obvious that BT and Setanta worked on it together (the Saturday November 30th mistake across all media). Setanta's choices cannot be applied to other European broadcasters.

icdg

There's one thing that's been pointed out to me that we've possibly all missed. Everton, Spurs, and Hull will be playing in the UEFA Europa League next season, and 25th October is the Saturday after a European game week, which means Liverpool v Hull and other games involving those three clubs will be moved to Sunday. Doesn't explain not picking Sunderland v Arsenal though.

radiowaves

icdg wrote: »

There's one thing that's been pointed out to me that we've possibly all missed. Everton, Spurs, and Hull will be playing in the UEFA Europa League next season, and those games are on European game weeks, which means they will be moved to Sunday.

West Ham definitely aren't

The most glaring commission is their match at Manchester United

Hull City have still to qualify

Setanta wouldn't assume that they will and miss a Liverpool fixture.

kn

Is it possibly an attempt to deal in some small way with the illegal downloads by mandating that are the foreign channels take the same 3pm game meaning that the others are not covered live and ergo not available to the websites?

radiowaves

kn wrote: »

Is it possibly an attempt to deal in some small way with the illegal downloads by mandating that are the foreign channels take the same 3pm game meaning that the others are not covered live and ergo not available to the websites?

Surmised in the earlier posts.

It's a possibility but, as I said, that would be one step forward and three back. More and more piracy is going the IPTV route which has no geographical rstrictions and all 3pms are available in other parts of the world (and should also be back on Bein Sports next season).

The PL cutting off their nose to spite their face comes to mind.

Having already restricted European broadcasters to just one match if they then force a particular match on them they would be asking for a major backlash.

In much the same way as many matches (apparently now being) forced on an Irish audience will hold little or no interest - especially when matches of much greater interest are taking place at the same time - the same will apply across Europe.

The only way it could stop 3pms in the UK is to restrict matches worldwide. that would be madness.

Here in Ireland many will be rethinking the value of a Setanta Pack sub. It had value over a Sky sub last season - not so much this.

traecy1

I see that they also have Spurs v QPR as their game on August 23rd even though the game has been confirmed for Sunday 24th due to the Europa League playoffs.

radiowaves

traecy1 wrote: »

I see that they also have Spurs v QPR as their game on August 23rd even though the game has been confirmed for Sunday 24th due to the Europa League playoffs.

They did exactly the same last season - with the exact same team if memory serves.

Well spotted - that all but 100% confirms that that their hand has been forced.

mikeym

Its a joke that Setanta subscribers are being denied 3pm games involving Man Utd and Liverpool who are the best supported teams in the country.

My dad subscribes to Setanta and if he finds out that West Brom V Palace match is being shown instead of Liverpool V Hull, he will get cranky.

radiowaves

mikeym wrote: »

Its a joke that Setanta subscribers are being denied 3pm games involving Man Utd and Liverpool who are the best supported teams in the country.

My dad subscribes to Setanta and if he finds out that West Brom V Palace match is being shown instead of Liverpool V Hull, he will get cranky.

I'm not a subscriber but has anyone brought any of this up with them on the phone/via email?

It would be very interesting to hear what they say about it.

mikeym

radiowaves wrote: »

I'm not a subscriber but has anyone brought any of this up with them on the phone/via email?

It would be very interesting to hear what they say about it.

Because a lot of subscribers dont realise it yet.

Ill be saying it to my dad and il be advising him to ring up Setanta to find out the story.

Badabing

Setanta often get flack for showing Man Utd and Liverpool too much and then when they change it up a bit they still get flack.

radiowaves

Badabing wrote: »

Setanta often get flack for showing Man Utd and Liverpool too much and then when they change it up a bit they still get flack.

Setanta have conducted surveys amongst subscribers.

They have even run voting polls on which match to show.

It is obvious, based on their match-choices down through the years, what the results of those surveys were (I don't know if they still do them).

The only time they've deviated from this was the jaw-dropping match-choice they made for the final day last season (was their hand forced then?).

Many fair-minded supporters of other teams even accept that Setanta would be mad to show their teams if Manchester United or Liverpool are available to show.

I doubt if Setanta (in the same way as ITV, Sky or BT don't) pay any attention to flack from minorities. Advertisers and subscribers call the tune.

Put simply, spreading the load across all teams - in fact showing certain teams with little or no Irish support (like Stoke for example) more times than the most popular teams in Ireland - is absolutely crazy (if you believe it's by choice).

Showing WBA v Palace on a day that Liverpool or Arsenal are playing will lead to real flack but from majorities, as opposed to minorities.

The only advantage of the 3pm pack in Ireland was being able to show the United, Liverpool & Arsenal matches not available on UK TV here.

Pubs will tell you the difference having the bigger teams at 3pm makes.

I now firmly believe their hand has been forced due to their tie-in with BT (and the advantage that gave BT & Setanta over Sky).

BT and the 3pm packs were sold separately in Ireland. Because they have been packaged together has, I believe, cost them their freedom to pick the top teams at 3pm.

In Britain & Ireland, Sky can boast Manchester United or Liverpool a certain number of times.

In the UK, BT can boast Manchester United or Liverpool a certain number of times.

However, in Ireland BT & Setanta's boasts together give an advantage over Sky that the prices of the rights separately shouldn't give them.

I'm guessing complaints from Sky have led to the situation that's developed.

kn

Badabing wrote: »

Setanta often get flack for showing Man Utd and Liverpool too much and then when they change it up a bit they still get flack.

You really cannot blame a commercial entity showing the game that would garner the most eyeballs and that means showing Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in that order when available. Does this suit everyone? No. But it suits the biggest number of people at that point in time.

RTE do the same with the Champions League. They often showed Man U games when other British teams were playing arguably better ties.

radiowaves

kn wrote: »

You really cannot blame a commercial entity showing the game that would garner the most eyeballs and that means showing Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in that order when available. Does this suit everyone? No. But it suits the biggest number of people at that point in time.

RTE do the same with the Champions League. They often showed Man U games when other British teams were playing arguably better ties.

Spot on.

Most people frothing at the mouth do so regarding Manchester United matches.

Ignoring the fact that in the BM (Before Moyes) era, United tend to get to the latter stages of competitions and usually be in contention for the league to the death, so naturally they'll be covered more than most.

It also ignores the fact that TV companies know what they're doing; they're not mugs.

But, as I said, most people frothing at the mouth do so about Manchester United coverage.
Isn't it strange that the same people don't do so about Liverpool - whose level of coverage is on a par with United. My allegiances should give away how I feel about Liverpool, but I've never once complained about the level of attention they get from TV even though there have often been more attractive contests that could be shown instead.

Because the ranters give themselves away like that (ie it's actually an anti-United rant as opposed to a too much TV coverage rant) is it any wonder they're blatantly ignored?

As I said, TV companies need to consider maximising their audience in order to attract advertisers and/or subscribers. Then they need to also consider commercial subscribers - if pubs can't get the popular teams at 3pm via Setanta they'll rethink their subscription options.

Setanta in the past have been no mugs in that respect. That they're "opting" to show WBA v Crystal Palace instead of Liverpool or Arsenal on one particular Saturday (notwithstanding so many other strange 'choices' up to November) gives the game away. Their hand is being forced.

traecy1

Setanta website now has a new list of games with Chelsea v Leicester on August 23rd and Man United v West Ham on September 27th. Chelsea v Aston Villa is the game being replaced on the 27th.

From what I can see no team is being shown more than twice at 3pm. Spurs v QPR had to be replaced on August 23rd due to Europa League. By picking Chelsea v Leicester instead that would have meant 3 Chelsea games with their game with West Brom on November 22nd. Maybe they had to drop the Villa game to stay within quotas.

Also the date error for West Brom v Arsenal on November 29th has been rectified but still no 3pm game listed for that day.

Actually just noticed West Brom will be on 3 times at 3pm but maybe they're just holding back on the top teams early on in the season.

radiowaves

traecy1 wrote: »

Setanta website now has a new list of games with Chelsea v Leicester on August 23rd and Man United v West Ham on September 27th. Chelsea v Aston Villa is the game being replaced on the 27th.

From what I can see no team is being shown more than twice at 3pm. Spurs v QPR had to be replaced on August 23rd due to Europa League. By picking Chelsea v Leicester instead that would have meant 3 Chelsea games with their game with West Brom on November 22nd. Maybe they had to drop the Villa game to stay within quotas.

Also the date error for West Brom v Arsenal on November 29th has been rectified but still no 3pm game listed for that day.

Thanks for your observations traecy1.

This is an interesting turn of events. Both available United matches are now being shown (allowing for the lack of a nomination for Nov 29th) but still the strange situation for the 25th.

Who knows what's changed but it looks like Setanta are putting up a fight at least.

traecy1 wrote: »

Actually just noticed West Brom will be on 3 times at 3pm but maybe they're just holding back on the top teams early on in the season.

They can't really do that because there is no way of knowing what matches will be available later in the season. Any restrictions have to be applied within the scheduled announcement.

Both Manchester United and Liverpool are playing at 3pm on November 29th. United's match is very likely to be moved (it's against Hull in a Europa League week) so they are undoubtedly waiting to see if they qualify before announcing that one.

It looks like they've got their limit increased by one but I still think it's tied in to what BT are showing - in other words WBA might be allowed three times but that won't necessarily be the case for bigger teams.

Unless they're working with minimums - in other word teams must be shown on Setanta at least once (irrespective of what BT have)? I havent studied the fixtures to see if it might be the case but that might be likely.

I hope I'm wrong and they just had a few smokes before announcing their fixtures and are now limiting the damage.

icdg

traecy1 wrote: »

From what I can see no team is being shown more than twice at 3pm. Spurs v QPR had to be replaced on August 23rd due to Europa League.

....
Actually just noticed West Brom will be on 3 times at 3pm but maybe they're just holding back on the top teams early on in the season.

There are 33 games in the package meaning, even if they could chose a unique set of teams each week (which logistics will prevent them doing) they would still be through every team twice with thirteen weeks left to spare. They'd be through them again with three games left to spare meaning that, if there is a quota, it can certainly be no less than four.

Picks in this set (if they don't change again)

1. Leicester City 2
2. Everton 1
3. Chelsea 2
4. Manchester City 1
5. Stoke City 2
6. Southampton 2
7. Newcastle 1
8. Aston Villa 1
9. Arsenal 1
10. Manchester United 2
11. West Ham 2
12. Liverpool 1
13. WBA 3
14. Sunderland 1
15 Crystal Palace 2

Still to be picked: QPR, Spurs, Burnley, Swansea, Hull

Now based on that, I'd maybe go with a minimum quota of at least one (as 75% of all Premier League clubs having been covered with just over 1/3rd of the seasons picks made) and a maximum quota of at least four but probably more (5-7?)

ziggyman17

I'd say Sky went running to the premier league to complain about BT and Setanta.... Finally Sky are getting some serious competition and they don't like it..... Subscriptions must be down for Sky and I'd say next year they will be down even further when they lose the Champions League to BT..

icdg

I don't really buy that to be honest. It shouldn't matter to Sky what games Setanta broadcast - they are all games Sky or BT either don't want to or can't broadcast. Remember that Setanta can only pick after Sky and BT have finished.

radiowaves

ziggyman17 wrote: »

I'd say Sky went running to the premier league to complain about BT and Setanta..

Let's say this is the case (and I'd say there's almost certainly something in it)

Sky would have every right to complain - packages are sold separately and the inherent value to a broadcaster is what they'd be prepared to pay when everything else is considered (including the competition).

By jumping into bed together BT & Setanta have increased the value of two packages sold separately well above what they paid for them individually. This, in turn, increases the attractiveness of the BT/Setanta package as a whole when compared to the similar offering from Sky.

Setanta's games alone are of no concern to Sky. Setanta's and BT's games together, in a subscription package, would rightly be a major concern to them. They're not daft; they've been in the subscription TV business for decades after all.

If they'd continued to sell their channels on a separate basis but had an overall package price they might have escaped any attention. But by selling the package together they were asking for trouble.

Remember that Sky are hampered by minimum and maximum quotas when they make their choices. So too are BT.
They have been forced by the system within the packages they purchased to forego matches they'd love to show so Sky would naturally be unhappy that by aligning with Setanta BT can advertise more top draw teams available in a combined package offered here by BT.

They couldn't be blamed for that.

ziggyman17 wrote: »

Finally Sky are getting some serious competition and they don't like it..... Subscriptions must be down for Sky and I'd say next year they will be down even further when they lose the Champions League to BT..

Sky are getting some serious competition - of course they don't like it (a no-brainer of a statement there)

ziggyman17

radiowaves wrote: »

Let's say this is the case (and I'd say there's almost certainly something in it)

Sky would have every right to complain - packages are sold separately and the inherent value to a broadcaster is what they'd be prepared to pay when everything else is considered (including the competition).

By jumping into bed together BT & Setanta have increased the value of two packages sold separately well above what they paid for them individually. This, in turn, increases the attractiveness of the BT/Setanta package as a whole when compared to the similar offering from Sky.

Setanta's games alone are of no concern to Sky. Setanta's and BT's games together, in a subscription package, would rightly be a major concern to them. They're not daft; they've been in the subscription TV business for decades after all.

If they'd continued to sell their channels on a separate basis but had an overall package price they might have escaped any attention. But by selling the package together they were asking for trouble.

Remember that Sky are hampered by minimum and maximum quotas when they make their choices. So too are BT.
They have been forced by the system within the packages they purchased to forego matches they'd love to show so Sky would naturally be unhappy that by aligning with Setanta BT can advertise more top draw teams available in a combined package offered here by BT.

They couldn't be blamed for that.



Sky are getting some serious competition - of course they don't like it (a no-brainer of a statement there)

hows the job going at Sky?????

radiowaves

ziggyman17 wrote: »

hows the job going at Sky?????

I personally hate their coverage but I like your way of having a discussion

icdg

Please don't make an accusation like that unless you can show substantive proof

radiowaves

icdg wrote: »

Please don't make an accusation like that unless you can show substantive proof

What accusation?

kn

icdg wrote: »

I don't really buy that to be honest. It shouldn't matter to Sky what games Setanta broadcast - they are all games Sky or BT either don't want to or can't broadcast. Remember that Setanta can only pick after Sky and BT have finished.

BT do have the first picks on some weeks though Sky still retain the lion's share. BT secured some first picks when they won the added surprise package that Sky were expected to win.

icdg

radiowaves wrote: »

What accusation?

Sorry I should have quoted, it relates to the post before yours.

radiowaves

icdg wrote: »

Sorry I should have quoted, it relates to the post before yours.

Yeah, I realised that afterwards

Thanks for the clarification though.

mikeym

Slightly off topic but will Setanta ever launch their HD channel on Sky?

And has anyone contacted Setanta over the 3pm matches (Im not a subscriber thats why I wont ring).

eam77

I asked them on facebook if we are likely to get setanta hd on sky anytime soon and the answer was 'its unlikely to happen this season'.
pity really. no sub from me until it happens

mackersdublin

mikeym wrote: »

Slightly off topic but will Setanta ever launch their HD channel on Sky?

And has anyone contacted Setanta over the 3pm matches (Im not a subscriber thats why I wont ring).

Both of Setanta's channels are in HD on UPC

ftakeith

mackersdublin wrote: »

Both of Setanta's channels are in HD on UPC

I thought its setanta ireland is in hd on upc

setanta in hd on sky won't happen as setanta only have some live content, its not worth it to have in hd on sky for the future ever

icdg

Setanta Sports 1 is also in HD on UPC, though we are drifting off topic here.

radiowaves

ftakeith wrote: »

its not worth it to have in hd on sky for the future ever

Unless people are sourcing their 3pms and other football from elsewhere?

radiowaves

European broadcasters are starting to make their 3pm picks.

Unsurprisingly in the first week any that have picked so far have gone for West Ham v Spurs...

byte

radiowaves wrote: »

European broadcasters are starting to make their 3pm picks.

Unsurprisingly in the first week any that have picked so far have gone for West Ham v Spurs...

I thought changes from last season, or the season before, enforced all the European broadcasters to show the same game?

radiowaves

byte wrote: »

I thought changes from last season, or the season before, enforced all the European broadcasters to show the same game?

The change limited each broadcaster to one game as opposed to forcing a particular game on them

byte

radiowaves wrote: »

The change limited each broadcaster to one game as opposed to forcing a particular game on them

Ah right, thanks for the clarification. I thought wrong.

kn

radiowaves wrote: »

The change limited each broadcaster to one game as opposed to forcing a particular game on them

I suppose some countries would want to take a 'lesser' perceived pick if there were some of their national team players club playing.

radiowaves

kn wrote: »

I suppose some countries would want to take a 'lesser' perceived pick if there were some of their national team players club playing.

Or even pick a match that features a team with a huge level of support in their country as opposed to match featuring two teams with virtually no support perhaps?