Have Sky got the Saturday night slot now?
I’m hoping City is the Sunday, but Saturday night wouldn’t surprise me if in fact Sky do have that slot from this season. Man City down to play on the Tuesday after they play us too.
This was from the Athletic
Package A (BT)
Total matches: 32
Kick-off times: Saturday 12.30pm
Package B: (Sky)
Total matches: 32
Kick-off times: Saturday 5.30pm
Package C: (Sky)
Total matches: 32
Kick-off times: 24 matches at Sunday 2pm and eight matches at Saturday 7.45pm
Package D (Sky)
Total matches: 32
Kick-off times: Sunday 4.30pm
Package E (Sky)
Total matches: 32
Kick-off times: 24 matches at Monday 8pm or Friday 7.30-8pm and eight fixtures at Sunday 2pm
Package F (Amazon)
Total matches: 20
Kick-off times: All 20 matches from one Bank Holiday and one mid-week fixture programme
Package G (BT)
Total matches: 20
Kick-off times: All 20 matches from two midweek fixture programmes.
How do picks work?
Depending on the package, broadcasters will have either the first, second, third, fourth or fifth pick of matches each weekend.
The prime slot, and the one with the majority of first picks, is Sky Sports’ Sunday 4.30pm showing. That slot has a total of 32 matches and Sky has first dibs on 19 of those, meaning it often ends up with the premium games.
Sky Sports has a variety of other picks, ranging from first to fifth, across its other packages.
BT Sport does not have any first picks for its Saturday (12.30pm) slot and has to make do with 20 second picks and 12 fifth picks.
Is there a minimum/maximum number of times a team can be shown in a certain slot?
Yes. In Package A (BT Sport’s 12.30pm slot), a team can be selected a maximum of six times throughout the season and must be picked at least once.
The same applies to Sky Sports’ Package B (Saturday 5.30pm), while packages C (Saturday 7.45pm, Sunday 2pm) and D (Sunday 4.30pm) have a maximum of five and a minimum of two.
There is no minimum number of times a side can be picked by Sky Sports for Package E (Monday 8pm or Friday 7.30-8pm and Sunday 2pm), but there is a maximum limit of five times a season.