Premier League to hold talks on scrapping 3pm blackout as new streaming era begins

A decision on ending the 3pm blackout could be made before the end of next season, says Premier League chief executive Richard Masters.

At present, top-flight matches in England cannot be broadcast on live domestic television between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday.

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The practice, which is enforced by the FA at the request of the Premier League and EFL, is known as the ‘3pm blackout’.

When could the 3pm blackout end?

However, it could be removed when the next TV rights cycle is finalised in early 2028.

The current cycle will run through to the end of the 2028/29 season.

As a result, any potential removal of the blackout would not be introduced until the start of the following campaign.

Masters spoke to talkSPORT’s chief football correspondent Alex Crook at the Premier League’s season launch on Tuesday – after every Championship match was available for broadcast on Saturday.

Asked if English football is leaning towards the end of the blackout, he explained: “Yes, but it’s not just us involved in the decision about Article 48. It’s us, the EFL and the FA.

“We’ve got to take that decision at some point in the future about whether things are going to change.

“It’s not a decision for now. It’s a decision we’ve got to make before the next set of domestic processes that the EFL and the Premier League are going to do.

“I’d say in about 18 months’ time we’ll come back to that decision about whether Article 48 should remain or not.”

In-house streaming

The question also comes after the Premier League launched its own streaming service in Singapore.

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‘Premier League +’ will show all 380 matches live and provide 24/7 coverage, in what is thought to be a testing ground for possible future streaming in the UK.

talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan has long called for the Premier League to launch its own ‘Netflix of Football’ amid rising subscription costs.

Asked about the new Premier League Studios in west London and its purpose, Masters added: “It gives us stronger options. That’s one of the reasons for doing it. Obviously, they’re the first job of Premier League Studios.

“It’s the size of a football pitch. It’s got 29 edit suites. It’s got three big studios. It’s an impressive facility. It allows us to look at new audiences in a different way.

“But its main job is to provide a world-class production service for our international broadcasters. We’re lucky enough to be in growth. This commercial term, which we’re now entering the second season of, we’ve got 27 per cent growth internationally. We’ve got confidence in the media rights sales model going forward.

“While others are struggling – it’s going to be tough in the markets out there – we’re back out there doing deals at the moment.

“Within 12 months, we’ll be able to announce what the revenue is from 2028-2029 onwards. In Singapore, we’ve just launched Premier League +, which is our first venture into direct-to-consumer, which is what Simon is talking about, but perhaps on a UK or even global basis.

“We’ll learn from that. It’s the first time we have our own customers. We’ve got to manage churn, we’ve got to set prices.

“We’re doing that and we’ll learn an enormous amount of it. When you look into the future with Premier League Studios and Premier League +, it does give us greater optionality.”

What is the 3pm blackout?

UEFA’s Article 48 allows national FAs to nominate a time period when matches cannot be broadcast domestically.

In England, this has been allocated to the 2.45pm to 5.15pm slot on Saturday afternoons ever since the 1960s.

The blackout sees the FA enforce Article 48 at the request of the Premier League and the EFL.

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However, there are exceptions allowing for 3pm kick-offs to be broadcast on live TV.

Article 48 can only be enforced when 50 per cent of matches in the top two divisions are being played at the same time within the designated slot.

For the FA to implement the rule, this requires 11 matches across the Premier League and Championship to start at 3pm on a Saturday.

Last weekend’s opening round of EFL fixtures saw less than 11 fixtures kick-off at that time in the top two divisions due to the Premier League not starting until this Friday.

As a result, matches in the Championship, League One and League Two could be broadcast domestically.

Although now enforced by UEFA’s Article 48, the 3pm blackout has been in place since the 1960s.

It was first introduced to encourage fans to attend lower league matches and boost attendances.