"This weekend's derby between Dundee United and Dundee will be shown live on television at 15:00 GMT - despite a decades-long ban that normally prevents matches from being shown at that time on Saturdays. Since the 1960s, football fans in the UK have been familiar with the 3pm blackout rule, which is in place to encourage stadium attendance at games."
"Uefa has published the list of days with 'blocked hours' on its website, external. Image source, Getty Images BBC Sport has been told that fixture congestion, combined with the sheer number of dates being used for matches over the festive period, mean some games fall outside the limited number of TV slots available, which is why Uefa relaxes the rules around broadcasting over Christmas and New Year."
The UK has observed a Saturday 3pm blackout since the 1960s to encourage stadium attendance. UEFA Article 48 requires national FAs in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to enforce the blackout each Saturday from 23 August 2025 until 25 April 2026 inclusive. UEFA designates certain days without 'blocked hours' that allow live broadcasts. Fixture congestion and heavy festive scheduling produce dates that fall outside TV slot limits, prompting UEFA to relax the blackout over Christmas and New Year and on some other exempt days. Examples include Livingston v Celtic at 15:00 on 27 December and the Dundee derby scheduled for live broadcast on 3 January. Premier League broadcasters have sometimes chosen not to use exempt slots.
Read at www.bbc.com
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