Up to 10 games will be shown live on Friday evenings under the terms of the new broadcasting rights.
The Premier League has issued invitations to tender (ITT) for the broadcast rights for three seasons starting in August 2016 with 168 live matches available in total - 14 more than are currently shown, which means that 44 per cent of all Premier League games will be available live.
There will be seven packages available, as under the current system, but it is understood the Monday night package will include up to 10 games to be played on Friday night.
No broadcaster will be able to show more than five packages or 126 matches in total, guaranteeing at least two packages and 42 games to a second broadcaster.
The announcement will fire the starting gun on the contest to secure the live rights, with current rights holders BSkyB and BT Sport set to bid again.
One unknown factor is whether Qatar-based beIN Sports will enter the bidding war - but even if it does not the stakes are likely to be raised even higher than the current #3.018billion and ensure another huge windfall for the Premier League clubs.
The ITT will also include bids for a free-to-air highlights package, and ITV is expected to challenge the BBC which has held the rights since 2004.
The bidding process for the highlights and the live rights is expected to be completed within the next four months with a decision announced in March.
The ITT also comes despite the media regulator Ofcom opening an investigation into how the Premier League sells its broadcast rights, following a complaint by Virgin Media.
The Premier League has insisted however that the Saturday 3pm kick-off time remains sacrosanct, and that matches played at that time will not be shown live.
After the sale of the live rights is completed, a separate sales process will take place for two other packages - a "near-live" package of 212 matches for on-demand exploitation - and an internet-based clips package for all matches.
Once the domestic rights sale is completed, league chiefs will then turn their attention to selling the overseas broadcast rights, which for the current three-year package brought in another #2.5billion.
The Football Supporters' Federation warned that if the change led to fewer matches taking place at 3pm on Saturdays it "would have a detrimental impact on match atmosphere and interests of supporters".
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