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".
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.
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?
https://www.football-stadiums.co.uk/articles/football-tv-bla...