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If you lived in the UK, supported Tottenham and wanted to watch all their games in the 2021/22 season you had to: Subscribe to Sky Sports (around £50-60 a mont

If you lived in the UK, supported Tottenham and wanted to watch all their games in the 2021/22 season you had to: Subscribe to Sky Sports (around £50-60 a month) for the Premier League games. Subscribe to BT Sports (30 a month) for the Saturday early kick off Premier League games and the Europa Conference League games. Subscribe to Amazon Prime for the 3 random weeks when they are showing the Premier League games instead of Sky. Subscribe to Premier Sports (£12 a month) to see a Europa Conference League 2 legged qualifier. And even then you couldn't see all the games legally in the UK because of the 3pm Saturday black out. You are forced to find a stream from another country where they are broadcasting the game. Then when you are subscriped you get wall to wall gambling adverts during half time. For every other product you subscribe to, it is to avoid ads, but not television.

dean2432 3y ago
wait, uk still have the 3pm Saturday black out?
emacdona 3y ago
Infuriating. I was pissed because I couldn't easily watch "all games in a given league". You only want to watch your team, and you STILL have to pay for four services to get "most" of the games.
peruvian 3y ago
There are cheaper ways to hurt yourself than trying to watch Spurs.
- cjbprime 3y ago
  Me: While this is amusing, come on, they're sixth in the Premier League, this is not in any way what a masochistic relationship with a sports team looks like. Also me, Googling: > Tottenham Hotspur's performance against Newcastle United on Sunday was so poor that the club is going to refund those that came out and showed support for the team.
  - smcl 3y ago
    So that result aside, they're not awful but for the money they've put into their team and their stadium (and the raised expectations that has brought) the return on that has been pretty poor domestically and in Europe
mobilio 3y ago
Coming soon - Apple TV! They also bidding for Premier League...
- karlshea 3y ago
  MLS Season Pass on Apple TV has been great. Way better content, way better stream quality, and no blackouts. Such a better experience than the hodgepodge of OTA TV, ESPN, ESPN+, FS1, RSNs etc that it has been in previous seasons.
  - factotvm 3y ago
    It’s been great in many ways, but the user interface is horrible. Why they show the scores on the thumbnail for replays is beyond me. Time shifting is all about not knowing the outcome beforehand. It’s as if this was created by people who don’t understand sport ball at all. But I don’t know what excuse they can use for burying the replays in the first place such that I found others on the web thinking the same as me—that only recaps are available for past matches.
    - karlshea 3y ago
      On several platforms you can disable the "Show Sports Scores" setting. However it is ridiculous that setting doesn't exist everywhere they support Apple TV (for example... macOS). The full replay thing is also silly, but they did change that recently. It's now a separate tile instead of a long press on the latest tvOS/macOS.
temp_praneshp 3y ago
If you watch Tottenham despite all that, you deserve the pain their football causes. Jokes apart, is the BT Sports "early kick off games" completely different from the Sky Sports game you mentioned? That's ridiculous. I was in England in Summer 2019 for the cricket world cup, and was shocked at how difficult it was to watch the games on TV. Wimbledon was very easy though, so maybe Tennis is way more popular?
- LanceH 3y ago
  A lot of European countries have a list of events which must be freely available. I guessing Wimbledon is on that list in the UK. Check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom_Code_on_Sports_and_Other_Listed_and_Designated_Events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom_Code_on_Sports_and_Other...
  - bbcloluebsj 3y ago
    heh. not sure if that's a internal joke from them... but they did wait until nobody is getting signal from airwaves to put in place rules limited to airwaves distribution. bloody marvelous.
    - rjmunro 3y ago
      I think most people got "signal from airwaves" in 1996. Most people still do, although don't necessarily use it very much.
      - cjrp 3y ago
        Does iPlayer over Wifi count as "signal from airwaves"?
    - celticninja 3y ago
      How do? This list was drawn up in 1991 when pretty much everyone was still using signal from airwaves
- 12907835202 3y ago
antman 3y ago
What is the 3pm saturday blackout?
- maccard 3y ago
  No matches are televised in the UK on Saturday Afternoons between 3 and 5:30(?). Allegedly, it's to encourage people to attend games rather than watch them.
  - dmurray 3y ago
    Not so much to encourage them to watch Premier League games (the ones that would otherwise be televised) but to encourage them to go to support their local team with hundreds or thousands of others. In this way, at least, the motivation is pleasingly different from the US blackouts which are aimed at getting you to attend the home games of your big league team. I don't understand why half the games are still played at 3pm on Saturday at all. Yes, it's a very convenient time, but if 60% of the games already get moved, why not move the others?
- zimpenfish 3y ago
  Games that happen at 3pm on Saturday are only allowed to be shown on TV to, uh, every country in the world except the UK. It is the stupidest holdover from Olden Times which has meant the fixture list is now fragmented across almost the entire week to accommodate broadcasters whilst attendances at those matches are still (modulo e.g. being a Monday night) "good". https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/articles/football-tv-blackout/ https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/articles/football-tv-bla...
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
drumhead 3y ago
The split in EPL matches amongst different providers is because of the EU trying to stop one company dominating the broadcast of matches. They were trying to introduce competition but they didn't really think of how it would affect the viewers.
willejs 3y ago
It's free to watch down the boozer mate.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
teh_klev 3y ago
I'm not a football fan but that 3pm Saturday Blackout thing is so archaic: "The football blackout is the rule that no Premier League, Football League or FA Cup matches be broadcast on live television on Saturday between 2:45pm and 5:15pm. Games may be played on that day and on that time, but they are forbidden to be televised – with Saturday televised kick-offs mostly occurring at 12:30pm or 5:30pm." "This follows a rule set in place since the 1960s, when Burnley chairman Bob Lord successfully convinced fellow Football League chairmen that televised matches on Saturday afternoons would negatively impact the attendance of lower league games." "He was convinced, for instance, that if Manchester United were to play Liverpool on Saturday at 3pm, fans of lower division teams would instead opt to watch the match on television instead of attend the match of the team they actually supported." "As a result, the financial income of lower league football would be reduced." "More than 40 years on, the rule is still in place. Foreign matches are also affected by the blackout – a broadcaster would not show the first 15 minutes of a match in La Liga that kicks off at 5pm UK time, for example." Source: https://archive.is/DQwsk#selection-1539.0-1601.218 https://archive.is/DQwsk#selection-1539.0-1601.218
teh_klev 3y ago
I'm in the UK. I wanted to watch the recent Masters golf tournament and it turns out it was on Sky Sports. They also had a deal for six months subscription at ~GBP18/month on a month to month streaming only contract. Fine I thought, I also enjoy F1 and 20/20 Cricket, I guess that's reasonable value for three sports I have a passing interest in. Upon reaching the checkout it turns out I needed to pay another GBP6.99/month for something called "Boost" to allow me to watch in 1080p. I gave up.

dean2432 3y ago

wait, uk still have the 3pm Saturday black out?

emacdona 3y ago

Infuriating. I was pissed because I couldn't easily watch "all games in a given league". You only want to watch your team, and you STILL have to pay for four services to get "most" of the games.

peruvian 3y ago

There are cheaper ways to hurt yourself than trying to watch Spurs.

cjbprime 3y ago
Me: While this is amusing, come on, they're sixth in the Premier League, this is not in any way what a masochistic relationship with a sports team looks like. Also me, Googling: > Tottenham Hotspur's performance against Newcastle United on Sunday was so poor that the club is going to refund those that came out and showed support for the team.
- smcl 3y ago
  So that result aside, they're not awful but for the money they've put into their team and their stadium (and the raised expectations that has brought) the return on that has been pretty poor domestically and in Europe

mobilio 3y ago

Coming soon - Apple TV! They also bidding for Premier League...

karlshea 3y ago
MLS Season Pass on Apple TV has been great. Way better content, way better stream quality, and no blackouts. Such a better experience than the hodgepodge of OTA TV, ESPN, ESPN+, FS1, RSNs etc that it has been in previous seasons.
- factotvm 3y ago
  It’s been great in many ways, but the user interface is horrible. Why they show the scores on the thumbnail for replays is beyond me. Time shifting is all about not knowing the outcome beforehand. It’s as if this was created by people who don’t understand sport ball at all. But I don’t know what excuse they can use for burying the replays in the first place such that I found others on the web thinking the same as me—that only recaps are available for past matches.
  - karlshea 3y ago
    On several platforms you can disable the "Show Sports Scores" setting. However it is ridiculous that setting doesn't exist everywhere they support Apple TV (for example... macOS). The full replay thing is also silly, but they did change that recently. It's now a separate tile instead of a long press on the latest tvOS/macOS.

temp_praneshp 3y ago

If you watch Tottenham despite all that, you deserve the pain their football causes. Jokes apart, is the BT Sports "early kick off games" completely different from the Sky Sports game you mentioned? That's ridiculous. I was in England in Summer 2019 for the cricket world cup, and was shocked at how difficult it was to watch the games on TV. Wimbledon was very easy though, so maybe Tennis is way more popular?

LanceH 3y ago
A lot of European countries have a list of events which must be freely available. I guessing Wimbledon is on that list in the UK. Check out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom_Code_on_Sports_and_Other_Listed_and_Designated_Events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom_Code_on_Sports_and_Other...
- bbcloluebsj 3y ago
  heh. not sure if that's a internal joke from them... but they did wait until nobody is getting signal from airwaves to put in place rules limited to airwaves distribution. bloody marvelous.
  - rjmunro 3y ago
    I think most people got "signal from airwaves" in 1996. Most people still do, although don't necessarily use it very much.
    - cjrp 3y ago
      Does iPlayer over Wifi count as "signal from airwaves"?
  - celticninja 3y ago
    How do? This list was drawn up in 1991 when pretty much everyone was still using signal from airwaves
12907835202 3y ago

antman 3y ago

What is the 3pm saturday blackout?

maccard 3y ago
No matches are televised in the UK on Saturday Afternoons between 3 and 5:30(?). Allegedly, it's to encourage people to attend games rather than watch them.
- dmurray 3y ago
  Not so much to encourage them to watch Premier League games (the ones that would otherwise be televised) but to encourage them to go to support their local team with hundreds or thousands of others. In this way, at least, the motivation is pleasingly different from the US blackouts which are aimed at getting you to attend the home games of your big league team. I don't understand why half the games are still played at 3pm on Saturday at all. Yes, it's a very convenient time, but if 60% of the games already get moved, why not move the others?
zimpenfish 3y ago
Games that happen at 3pm on Saturday are only allowed to be shown on TV to, uh, every country in the world except the UK. It is the stupidest holdover from Olden Times which has meant the fixture list is now fragmented across almost the entire week to accommodate broadcasters whilst attendances at those matches are still (modulo e.g. being a Monday night) "good". https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/articles/football-tv-blackout/ https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/articles/football-tv-bla...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

drumhead 3y ago

The split in EPL matches amongst different providers is because of the EU trying to stop one company dominating the broadcast of matches. They were trying to introduce competition but they didn't really think of how it would affect the viewers.

willejs 3y ago

It's free to watch down the boozer mate.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

teh_klev 3y ago

I'm not a football fan but that 3pm Saturday Blackout thing is so archaic: "The football blackout is the rule that no Premier League, Football League or FA Cup matches be broadcast on live television on Saturday between 2:45pm and 5:15pm. Games may be played on that day and on that time, but they are forbidden to be televised – with Saturday televised kick-offs mostly occurring at 12:30pm or 5:30pm." "This follows a rule set in place since the 1960s, when Burnley chairman Bob Lord successfully convinced fellow Football League chairmen that televised matches on Saturday afternoons would negatively impact the attendance of lower league games." "He was convinced, for instance, that if Manchester United were to play Liverpool on Saturday at 3pm, fans of lower division teams would instead opt to watch the match on television instead of attend the match of the team they actually supported." "As a result, the financial income of lower league football would be reduced." "More than 40 years on, the rule is still in place. Foreign matches are also affected by the blackout – a broadcaster would not show the first 15 minutes of a match in La Liga that kicks off at 5pm UK time, for example." Source: https://archive.is/DQwsk#selection-1539.0-1601.218 https://archive.is/DQwsk#selection-1539.0-1601.218

teh_klev 3y ago

I'm in the UK. I wanted to watch the recent Masters golf tournament and it turns out it was on Sky Sports. They also had a deal for six months subscription at ~GBP18/month on a month to month streaming only contract. Fine I thought, I also enjoy F1 and 20/20 Cricket, I guess that's reasonable value for three sports I have a passing interest in. Upon reaching the checkout it turns out I needed to pay another GBP6.99/month for something called "Boost" to allow me to watch in 1080p. I gave up.