A few days before what is still the marquee fixture of the English season, Liverpool’s in-house television network showed a documentary called “Us and Them.” It is meant as no criticism of the channel in question — LFCTV — and its equivalents at clubs across Europe that it felt like something of a departure.

Like club websites, team-specific channels know their market. They are not concerned with trying to win over casual, channel-surfing viewers (not that anybody channel surfs anymore). They are not competing with HBO or the BBC or other mainstream networks. They do not have to provide balance, or mass appeal, or variety. They cater to a specific — some might say captive — audience: not just fans, but devoted, hard-core fans of the club.

That is why some of the output of these channels can feel, at times, if not like propaganda, then at least state-approved programming. When viewers call in to Manchester United’s channel, for example, and end up criticizing the Glazer family, which owns the team, you can sense a small thrill of mutiny. Some do not even recognize the existence of defeat: After one heavy loss against Barcelona a few years ago, Real Madrid’s television station did not even air a replay of the game. It showed a film instead.

In the week before Liverpool’s Sunday visit to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, then, you might have expected LFCTV’s schedule to feature programs recounting famous victories, running through cherished goals, reliving dramatic moments. You would not, necessarily, have expected it to show a documentary that highlighted how similar Liverpool and Manchester United are as teams, and how similar Liverpool and Manchester are as cities.