03 March 2023 , 10:09
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Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has confirmed the competition will not be making any changes to the 3pm blackout rule "in the near term".
As things stand, more nearly half of all Premier League games are not put up for broadcast in England, though foreign broadcasters are still able to bid for rights. The league's UK partners Sky Sports, BT Sport and Amazon Prime Video share 200 of the 380 games between them, per the most recent TV deal.
Reports have emerged suggesting the EFL could look to raise revenues by scrapping the 3pm blackout, which means any league game shown at 3pm on a Saturday cannot be broadcast live on TV. However, the Premier League - which has also voluntarily signed up to the agreement - is not expected to dial back.
“We’ve been proponents of Article 48 for the entire Premier League and I don’t see that changing in the near term,” Masters told the Financial Times Business of Football Summit. Article 48 is a UEFA law which allows countries to block out two-and-a-half-hour time periods in which games cannot be televised, and in England this is 2:45-5:15 on a Saturday.
The blackout was briefly lifted during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons when Premier League teams returned to action after the competition was paused at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The same period also saw a selection of games made free-to-air via the BBC and other broadcasters.
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While the Premier League appears unlikely to make any changes ahead of the next TV rights deal, which will run from 2025-28, it could be a different story for the EFL. In April 2022, teams from the Championship, League One and League Two were given the opportunity to air their views about potentially scrapping the blackout in those competitions regardless of any Premier League decision.
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Richard Masters has spoken about the 3pm blackout once more (PA)
England is one of just three countries currently making use of Article 48, along with Scotland and Montenegro. While an EFL decision has yet to be made, clubs in the lower leagues have been urged to be brave on the matter.
"I am pro the 3pm blackout being scrapped," Bolton chief exec Neil Hart told Mirror Football in December, ahead of clubs removing the blackout to allow fans to stream league games during the World Cup. "Hopefully we will get some good data around it in the next few weeks, asking if streaming has an impact on our home attendances.
“I think football should be brave and positive and say we believe in the live product, and they will still want to come, and there is an audience who want to watch at home," Hart added, while claiming " There is support if the conditions are right".