There are five packages to the latest TV rights deal, which began at the start of this season and runs for four years, though Sky Sports owns four of them.
TNT Sports has the 12:30 GMT slot on a Saturday, but doesn’t have any first picks. Sky Sports holds all first picks, 14 for 17:30 on a Saturday and 18 for Sunday at 16:30.
So, what goes into the selection process? Quite a few bits, and it will always be influenced by the European calendar – especially this season when there are nine clubs in Uefa competition.
For instance, teams in the Europa League and Conference League on a Thursday – Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest – are unable to play a Saturday. And teams who are away in the Champions League on a Wednesday will kick off at 20:00 on a Saturday if chosen by TNT.
Even then there is some flexibility. TNT Sports selected Crystal Palace v Manchester United for Saturday, 29 November but as the Eagles cannot play that day it kicks off at 12:00 on the Sunday.
Sky Sports picked Tottenham Hotspur v Fulham, which should have been allocated to a Friday or Monday at 20:00 that same weekend. But as Spurs are away to Paris-St Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday, 26 November and have a Premier League game on Tuesday, 2 December, the Fulham fixture is scheduled for 20:00 on the Saturday.
A team in Europe has limited options to be selection to play on a Monday, which is why Manchester United, with no European engagements, are likely to be picked more often than other clubs.
There are other constraints, too. In the 12:30 and 17:30 Saturday slots, every club must be shown at least once and no team can picked more than six times. For the other slots, the maximum is five times.
And as Manchester United have already been picked three times in the Monday slot, they can be selected only two more times.
