Villa matches moved for Sky Sports

The Premier League has announced a raft of fixture changes as the latest tranche of televised games are announced.

Two Villa fixtures have been shifted, both at the behest of Sky Sports.

The away clash down at Fulham shifts from Saturday 7th December at 3pm to the new time of Sunday 8th December at 1.30pm.  Darren Bent will ineligible for this fixture due to Premier League loan rules.

Villa snubbed by BT Sport

The following week, the home clash with David Moyes's Manchester United is plucked from 3pm on the 14th and will now take place at 1.30pm on Sunday 15th December, leaving thousands of Villa fans facing the bleak prospect of being dragged round the Christmas shops by the other half on the Saturday.

villamad advises any Villa supporter facing this fate to consider steering their beloved towards the Frankfurt Market.

No other Villa fixtures appear in the latest tranche so it would appear that the club has been snubbed by the rival fledgling sports service BT Sport.

The list also reveals that Villa's Christmas fixtures will be unaffected by TV company shenanigans.

Sky Sports 1 free for everyone on Day 1 of Premier League season

Sky Sports 1 will be free on the first day of the 2013/14 Premier League football season.

On Saturday, August 17, the channel airs on Sky 2 on pay TV services and Pick TV on Freeview and YouView.

The line up:

10am - Soccer AM
12 noon - FL72 - Live
Sky's Saturday Football League matches move to from tea-time to lunchtime, to play opposite BT Sport's live Premier League offering
2.30pm Team Talk
David Jones and Jamie Redknapp preview the 3pm kick-offs

3pm - Soccer Saturday
Jeff Stelling and his ex-pro cohorts with the usual banter filled match updates
5pm - Saturday Night Football - Live
with David Jones and Jamie Redknapp
8pm - Saturday Night Football - Game of the Day
Sarah-Jane Mee hosts what was known as Football First
10pm - Saturday Night Football - Match Choice
Red button highlights from every Saturday 3pm fixture

Confusion as Sky pick Villa - Chelsea for FA Cup Final Day

Rupert Murdoch

The date of our vital home clash with Chelsea is up in the air after it was selected for TV coverage by Sky Sports.

The game was due to kick off on Sunday 12th May but has now been shunted back a day for TV purposes.  However it's new current scheduled time is at an annoying 12:45pm on Saturday 11th May, the day of The FA Cup Final.

However Chelsea are still competing in the tournament and if they beat Man City on Sunday's semi final, our game will be moved again with Tuesday 14th May a possible date. To complicate matters, if Chelsea make the Europa League final which is played on the 15th, our game will need to be squeezed into an earlier slot in the calendar.

Clear as mud then.

Man U match moved as Sky bugger up another Saturday 3 o'clocker

Rupert Murdoch

Those lovely people at Sky Sports have selected Villa's away clash with Manchester United for TV coverage.

The decision means that game, initially scheduled for Saturday 20th April will now take place on the much less sociable Monday 22nd April at 8pm.

However, don't cancel those advance train tickets and hotel bookings just yet. In the event that United squeak into the Champions League Semi-Finals, the game will be bounced back to the Saturday with an early doors 12.45pm start time.

Sky Sports continue to bugger up our fixture list.

Two more vital home games have been shunted out of their 3pm Saturday slots by Rupert Murdoch's evil henchmen Sky Sports people.

The daunting home clash with Manchester City has moved from Saturday March 2 to the massively inconvenient Monday March 4, with an 8pm kick-off.

Our opportunity do the double over Liverpool now has to wait until the distinctly unfamily-friendly timeslot of Easter Sunday, Sunday March 31, with a 1.30pm kick-off. Put your tin-hat on before you reveal that lovely news to your wives, girlfriends and mothers.