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.
The FAs in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are subject to Uefa’s Article 48, which this season enforces the blackout each Saturday from 23 August 2025 until 25 April 2026 inclusive.
However, there are some exceptions for days that have not been allocated ‘blocked hours’ by Uefa, meaning games can be broadcast live.
Uefa has published the list of days with ‘blocked hours’ on its website, external.
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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.
Scottish Premiership fixture Livingston v Celtic was shown live at 15:00 on 27 December, despite more than half of the league’s fixtures kicking off at the same time – which would usually trigger the blackout rule.
That weekend was on Uefa’s list of exempt days, although the English Premier League did not exercise its right to broadcast games at that time.
The ban is also lifted for fixtures across the UK on 3 January, which will see the Dundee derby broadcast live as a result – but the Premier League has again not opted to allow its games to be shown.
There are also exemptions in place for international breaks and major cup fixtures, such as the FA Cup quarter-finals on 4 April – although the latter is not an exempt weekend in Scotland.
Early rounds of Scotland’s Premier Sports Cup have also been broadcast live on Saturday afternoons in the past due to the fact that they happen before the blocked hours weekends begin in late August.
This article is the latest from BBC Sport’s Ask Me Anything team.
