All Premier League games in October likely to be shown live on TV

Live TV coverage of every Premier League match is expected to continue into October after the government announced the suspension of plans to return fans to stadiums. Since the restart in June, longstanding broadcasting traditions have been turned upside down to allow fans to keep up with top-flight football. The Saturday 3pm blackout has gone, games kick off at tea-time midweek and the BBC has live Premier League football for the first time.

Although rights holders and the league had hoped for a return to normality this season, the continued spread of the pandemic means live coverage is set to continue. There are 40 top-flight fixtures scheduled in October, although kick-off times are yet to be agreed. September’s matches were shared between Sky, BT Sport, Amazon and the BBC, with Sky screening 18 of the 28 games.

It is understood any extension of the arrangement is likely to be done on a month-by-month basis, with the league having committed this month to taking a “step-by-step” approach to determining “appropriate arrangements”.

The move will be welcomed by fans’ groups who called for all matches to be broadcast on TV while supporters cannot get back into grounds. The Football Supporters’ Federation has called for the arrangement to be extended to the end of the season.

Premier League clubs are less convinced about the merits of the idea. There are concerns that it makes an already compact schedule more difficult for teams, but also that a broadcast schedule built to suit British audiences may affect the global audience watching in different time zones.

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The new way of doing things will also complicate what are set to be challenging negotiations when the Premier League tries to strike new broadcast deals. The tender process for the three-year arrangements for 2022-2025 would ordinarily begin this autumn.

source: theguardian.com