In this article, we take a look at which Premier League fixtures are live on Amazon Prime, Sky Sports and BT Sport TV this week.
This weekend, the Premier League TV schedule will feature a number of high-stakes encounters across all levels.
Manchester City will face Leicester in a bid to close the gap on Arsenal, while the Gunners have to wait until Sunday before they can bounce back after their draw against Liverpool.
Newcastle takes on Aston Villa, a crucial match between two of the most exciting teams in the league at the moment. Meanwhile, Leeds hosts Liverpool on Monday Night Football.
PREMIER LEAGUE TV SCHEDULE
Saturday 15th April
Aston Villa v Newcastle (12:30pm) BT Sport 1
Man City v Leicester (5:30pm) Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event
Sunday 16th April
West Ham v Arsenal (2pm) Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event
Nottingham Forest v Man Utd (4:30pm) Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event
Monday 17th April
Leeds v Liverpool (8pm) Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event
Friday 21st April
Arsenal v Southampton (8pm) Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event
Saturday 22nd April
Fulham v Leeds (12:30pm) BT Sport 1
Sunday 23rd April
Newcastle v Tottenham (2pm) Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event
Tuesday 25th April
Wolves v Crystal Palace (7:30pm) BT Sport
Aston Villa v Fulham (7:45pm) BT Sport
Leeds v Leicester (8pm) BT Sport
Wednesday 26th April
Nottingham Forest v Brighton (7:30pm) BT Sport
Chelsea v Brentford (7:45pm) BT Sport
West Ham v Liverpool (7:45pm) BT Sport
Man City v Arsenal (8pm) BT Sport
Thursday 27th April
Everton v Newcastle (7:45pm) BT Sport
Southampton v Bournemouth (7:45pm) BT Sport
Tottenham v Man Utd (8:15pm) BT Sport
Saturday 29th April
Crystal Palace v West Ham (12:30pm) BT Sport 1
Arsenal v Chelsea (5:30pm) Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event
Sunday 30th April
Fulham v Man City (2pm) Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event
Liverpool v Tottenham (4:30pm) Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event
Monday 1st May
Leicester v Everton (8pm) Sky Sports Premier League / Main Event
Provisional dates for TV fixtures to be announced are as follows:
March TV fixtures: January 25th
April TV fixtures: February 21st
Matchweek 35 TV fixtures: March 23rd
Matchweek 36 TV fixtures: March 30th
Matchweek 37 TV fixtures: April 7th
Sky Sports Premier League and Football channels are priced £18 per month combined, or viewers can pick up the complete sports package from just £25 per month.
NOW is essentially Sky Sports without a contract. Fans can pay for a day membership (£9.99) or month membership (£33.99).
BT Sport usually shows games in the weekly Saturday lunchtime slot. You can sign up for a BT Sport subscription or pick up a contract-free BT Sport monthly pass for £25.
Amazon Prime Video boasted two rounds of games prior to Christmas. Viewers were allowed to advantage of a 30-day free trial, which included free next-day delivery across the Amazon store.
Why is there a Saturday football blackout in the UK for live streams and TV broadcasts?
Since before the formation of the Premier League, Saturday 3pm kick offs have been forbidden to be televised in the UK, with broadcasters only allowed to show early and late matches on national TV.
Though the 3pm kick off is the slot in which the majority of weekend matches are played with a number of games happening at the same time, they are never broadcast live on television due to the ‘football blackout’.
The United Kingdom is the only place to prohibit the broadcast of 3pm Saturday kick offs.
The 3pm blackout is said to be tradition, with Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday – the go to show where a panel of pundits report in-game action to viewers with none of the match footage actually being showed.
This is also why ratings for Match of the Day remain ever-popular, though numbers are made tougher to achieve due to online streams, footage of goals appearing within seconds online and highlights uploaded to Sky Sports’ YouTube just after 5pm Saturdays.
Major European leagues in France, Spain, Germany and Italy don’t observe such a blackout, and there has been sufficient evidence to prove that closed periods do not affect the outcome of lower league football match attendance.
If anything, you’re more likely to watch more Premier League games if your based in North America or Asia rather than your own country (UK), despite the England priding themselves as a nation who are the home of football.
In February 2011, Advocate General Kokott of the European Court of Justice launched an investigation into the “closed periods” and concluded that they did not affect match attendance at lower league games.
“It is, in fact, doubtful whether closed periods are capable of encouraging attendance at matches and participation in matches,” she said in a statement .
“Both activities have a completely different quality to the following of a live transmission on television. It has not been adequately shown to the Court that the closed periods actually encourage attendance at and participation in matches.
“No closed periods were adopted in France, Germany, Italy and Spain, or in Northern Ireland, that is to say, within the sphere of influence of English football.”
In 2016, Ofcom launched an investigation into the rights of televised football and surveyed football fans about whether they wanted to see a change.
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