THE FA will lift their Saturday TV blackout for Manchester City’s semi-final against Sheffield United because of police advice.
City’s match at Wembley on April 22 will kick-off at 4:45pm – which clashes with the 2.45pm-5.15pm blackout period – and will be shown on ITV1.
According to the Daily Mail, the FA wanted the usual 5.30pm start for Saturday semi-finals.
But police told them the game could not kick-off any later than 4.45pm on safety grounds.
It means the FA have been forced to breach their own blackout rules, which have been in place since the 1960s.
A spokesperson for the FA said: “The kick-off times for our fixtures are scheduled in collaboration with the clubs, local authorities, police, and broadcasters.
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“We were informed by the police and local safety advisory group that 16.45 was the latest time possible for this tie.”
The ruling was introduced, at the instigation of then-Burnley chairman Bob Lord more than 50 years ago, in the belief that it would prevent TV football damaging attendances at other matches.
During coronavirus lockdown, when games where played behind closed doors, matches were aired during the blackout period.
And the EFL are also willing to end it from the 2024-25 season as part of their new TV rights deal.
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DAZN are among the bidders for the next three-season package of EFL rights, with competitors including Sky, Viaplay and TNT Sports, the new name for what was BT Sport until the takeover by Discovery.
EFL bosses are looking to increase the current package, worth £119m per season, to £200m plus, a huge potential financial lifeline for struggling clubs.
But the DAZN option would see a huge increase in the number of games available including the traditional Saturday afternoon slot, currently protected from broadcasting by Article 48 of Uefa Statutes.
DAZN argues that under the current system, with matches on Sky, lower division fans are being starved of the chance to watch their teams unless they go to the matches.
Only 20 games League One are shown each season, 10 in League Two and last season 26 of the 72 EFL clubs did not feature at all.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
