Scottish Football & Sky/BT Sport.

DeeGer10

Well-Known Member
Something I've never quite understood is why Scottish football fans accept that the money they pay for their subscriptions very little goes towards our TV deal. I'd guess the majority goes towards funding the Premier League.

Now I'm not saying we should be getting the same amount of cash as England but a bigger percentage. It seems to me that we just accept that Scottish football is never going to be close to being a top league coupled with the fact alot of fans want to watch a higher standard of football so pay the fees.

If everyone Sky/BT sports customer decided to boycott, I would imagine the bosses of the companies would be flapping or are we too small a demographic for them to care?

Should we as a football loving nation do more to put pressure on these companies? Ultimately more money means increased standard.

I understand the SFA play a part in the amount of money we receive and are partly to blame.
 
They don't care about Scottish football at all. The only game that draws a crowd in Rangers v celtic and even then they put it on at the same time as English games which do similar numbers overall. If we were to boycott they might not even notice
 
Did we not play 'chicken' with sky before when spl tv was rumoured. Spl tv never happened and we had to go back and beg sky to show our games
 
The fkn halfwits in charge of our game allowed this to happen.From the moment Roger Mitchell attempted to hold Sky to ransom for more money was the moment it went into decline as Sky told him to bolt and we then had the charade of Satan TV then council telly then fck all then back to Sky/BT for a pittance.
 
It was the reason the voting went to 11 - 1 for motions to pass. Ourselves, Celtic and Aberdeen wanted to remain with Sky, but the rest thought they could get a better deal elsewhere and we lost the vote. We bounced round a bit (BBC, Setanta) and ultimately ended up back with Sky for a fraction of the deal we had been offered previously.
 
Something I've never quite understood is why Scottish football fans accept that the money they pay for their subscriptions very little goes towards our TV deal. I'd guess the majority goes towards funding the Premier League.

Now I'm not saying we should be getting the same amount of cash as England but a bigger percentage. It seems to me that we just accept that Scottish football is never going to be close to being a top league coupled with the fact alot of fans want to watch a higher standard of football so pay the fees.

If everyone Sky/BT sports customer decided to boycott, I would imagine the bosses of the companies would be flapping or are we too small a demographic for them to care?

Should we as a football loving nation do more to put pressure on these companies? Ultimately more money means increased standard.

I understand the SFA play a part in the amount of money we receive and are partly to blame.

I reckon they would just negotiate a less prudent deal next time or risk going down the route of no tv deal whatsoever.
Of 5 million population many of whom are many in the same household maybe just around 2 million homes?? Of those 2 million homes how many would subscribe to see Scottish football? Maybe half so say around 1 million in Scotland subscribed to sports tv.
A boycott would probably do more harm than good imo.
Need to rely on the powers that be showcasing the Scottish game in best light as possible and we all really have a responsibility in this, fans behaviour is a big 1.
Heard a few months back BT were wanting to buy it outright for £30 million a season which would be the best deal ever so just need to see if that comes to fruition.
 
There is no-one currently in the SPFL that could do anything that the EPL do with way sell the their games and is via a tendering process - 7 different packages over a number of timeslots for the UK and an International one as well

Both Sky Sports and Bt Sport currently control the payments in Scotland although BT Sport increase the amount for coverage League Cup coverage from £2m a season from BBC Scotland to around £8m a season with an increase in the games from 4 to 13 games. Worthing nothing BT Sport are rumoured to been offering around £30m a season for full rights from 2020/21 for League games

The SFA number have benefit from the Scotland games as UEFA deal with that now via their centralising deal

The EFL - English Football League - have just compete a new tendering process for coverage of their games still to be announce however in the past it was simply Sky Sports offering money instead, current deal is £90m a season
 
They don't care about Scottish football at all. The only game that draws a crowd in Rangers v celtic and even then they put it on at the same time as English games which do similar numbers overall. If we were to boycott they might not even notice

You're right however I predict that eventually the EPL is going to bomb out and clubs will find themselves in all sorts of financial difficulty.

If you increase the funds in Scotland it increases the level of player and possibly more people would want to watch these games.

I reckon if you started showing games from league a similar standard to ours on British TV at the right times (not clashing with others) then people would watch it (Belgium for example). It's because we know (and english football snobbery) it's not great along with probably being embarrassed at how bad it is we just accept it.

Scotland is partly responsible for the crazy money down in England. We help fund it.
 
They might like having the games against them but they don't need them. If no-one in Scotland payed for the sports I honestly don't think it would make too much of a difference.
 
I've heard BT are interested in taking the whole of Scottish football when the rights are up. Should hopefully bump the cash up a bit as Sky won't want to lose the 4 scum games.
 
Maybe we have to face facts that nobody outside Scotland is interested in Scottish football.
 
They don't care about Scottish football at all. The only game that draws a crowd in Rangers v celtic and even then they put it on at the same time as English games which do similar numbers overall. If we were to boycott they might not even notice
This.

And I like my EPL far too much to boycott Sky/BT.
 
The argument for this was in 1992 when the Premier League was formed.

We pumped their champions out the first ever Champions League and were one of, if not the biggest club in Britain at the time.

It's bad that no TV cash was distributed to Scotland back then when England got the lot. Can't blame that for Scottish Football eating itself to death and refusing to change from the boring 4 games a season, but it played a small part.
 
The SPFL TV concept should be revisited. In this day and age expensive Satellite uplinks aren't necessary and smart devices can receive quality 4k content very easily.
 
Maybe we have to face facts that nobody outside Scotland is interested in Scottish football.

You're right but what makes you interested in a particular league? Its the standard and the excitement I bet. The only way to improve that is a better standard of player that costs more money.

I firmly believe we as a nation have just accepted it's poor and there's no going back. Football is Football whatever way you look at it and geographical location isn't enough of a reason alone for the standard to be better or worse.
 
The argument for this was in 1992 when the Premier League was formed.

We pumped their champions out the first ever Champions League and were one of, if not the biggest club in Britain at the time.

It's bad that no TV cash was distributed to Scotland back then when England got the lot. Can't blame that for Scottish Football eating itself to death and refusing to change from the boring 4 games a season, but it played a small part.

IIRC, the SPL knocked back a bumper deal with Sky trying to play hardball - ended up having to sign with the BBC for a year to get something, anything - then went with Setanta.

That decision was the catalyst for shit money coming out way because nobody ever bid that high again.
 
The money simply isn't there as the interest level in Scottish football is so low.

The marketing of Epl is phenomenal. Best league in the world, don't think so, but the money is there.
 
IIRC, the SPL knocked back a bumper deal with Sky trying to play hardball - ended up having to sign with the BBC for a year to get something, anything - then went with Setanta.

That decision was the catalyst for shit money coming out way because nobody ever bid that high again.
Roger Mitchell and SPL TV

Sky offered the same amount for 4 seasons from 2002/03 around £12m a season however Roger Mitchell felt a PPV station might be better a lack of looking into cost him and Scottish Football, Sky told him to beat it and started 2002/03 without a deal in place until BBC Scotland came in with a 2 year deal worth £8m a season before Setanta took over in 2004/05 onwards
 
What are the viewing figures for a Rangers v Celtic game versus a Stoke V Man City game for example, does anyone know?
 
The money simply isn't there as the interest level in Scottish football is so low.

The marketing of Epl is phenomenal. Best league in the world, don't think so, but the money is there.

Correct might not great at time but financially it due their marketing of it

UK tender for the next live rights from 2019/20 is coming in next few month 190 a season which might include some Saturday 7.45pm kick-off if the clubs accept that timeslot
 
The money simply isn't there as the interest level in Scottish football is so low.

The marketing of Epl is phenomenal. Best league in the world, don't think so, but the money is there.

I would like to research it a bit more and compare the SPL to similar sized nations or even work out percentages compared to the larger leagues.

I see Belgian Pro League (population double the size of Scotland) their rights sold for close to 80m Euros so would a deal around 40m euros be fair for Scotland? It's far greater than we're getting now.
 
The fkn halfwits in charge of our game allowed this to happen.From the moment Roger Mitchell attempted to hold Sky to ransom for more money was the moment it went into decline as Sky told him to bolt and we then had the charade of Satan TV then council telly then fck all then back to Sky/BT for a pittance.
We can get more money from SPLTV said little Roger. Sky said on you go then. Only us and the filth saw what a shambles it would be and voted against it causing the anthill mob to resign from the league.
 
We can get more money from SPLTV said little Roger. Sky said on you go then. Only us and the filth saw what a shambles it would be and voted against it causing the anthill mob to resign from the league.
Spot on chief,wankers every one of them.
 
What are the viewing figures for a Rangers v Celtic game versus a Stoke V Man City game for example, does anyone know?

Using BARB rating and this been the best one

2016 Scottish Cup Semi-final Rangers v Celtc 501,000 12 noon kick-off

Same day Leicester City v West Ham United 922.000 1.30pm kick-off

April 29th 2017 Rangers v Celtc 217,000
 
Using BARB rating and this been the best one

2016 Scottish Cup Semi-final Rangers v Celtc 501,000 12 noon kick-off

Same day Leicester City v West Ham United 922.000 1.30pm kick-off

April 29th 2017 Rangers v Celtc 217,000


Thanks for the info,

So much more interest in a Leicester v Wet Spam game than an old firm semi final
 
Thanks for the info,

So much more interest in a Leicester v Wet Spam game than an old firm semi final

While Leicester were heading for the title the fact our was the only 2nd time we had met since 2012 shows you how much interest there in the Scottish game as I posted 12 months later it over half that
 
In a Heart and Hand pod the other week David Edgar tore apart BT's coverage of Scottish football by the three clowns in the commentary booth, McLean, Butcher and Sutton. He was spot on when he said they would not accept that type of coverage of the EPL and neither should we have to put up with it.
 
While Leicester were heading for the title the fact our was the only 2nd time we had met since 2012 shows you how much interest there in the Scottish game as I posted 12 months later it over half that

Forgot Leicester were heading for the title, the 12 months later figure is quite damming as far as interest goes.
 
Scottish football will be lucky to get anywhere near the money the Championship level receive never mind the Premier League!

Will need to have a good few times having good runs in Europe for anyone to take us seriously.
 
In a Heart and Hand pod the other week David Edgar tore apart BT's coverage of Scottish football by the three clowns in the commentary booth, McLean, Butcher and Sutton. He was spot on when he said they would not accept that type of coverage of the EPL and neither should we have to put up with it.

That's spot on. Butcher and Sutton double act made me sick. I did think to myself "why am I paying for this!?"
 
Maybe we have to face facts that nobody outside Scotland is interested in Scottish football.
The big Sports networks (Sportklub and Arena sports) across the Balkans shows almost every European league live but have dropped SPFL from their schedules this season. Think I was the only guy in Croatia watching it!!!
 
It's a shit product. How many of us would watch Scottish football if it wasn't for Rangers? I certainly wouldn't. You can easily watch English, Spanish, Italian and other more appealing leagues.

Poor quality pitches, stadiums and players. Most grounds are barely a third full. The people running out game have fallen asleep at the wheel.
 
It's a shit product. How many of us would watch Scottish football if it wasn't for Rangers? I certainly wouldn't. You can easily watch English, Spanish, Italian and other more appealing leagues.

Poor quality pitches, stadiums and players. Most grounds are barely a third full. The people running out game have fallen asleep at the wheel.

I agree, but can't understand why nobody is doing anything about it.

If it was a business, those running it would have had their jotters for running it into the ground.

Less than 10 years ago Scotland had a team in a European final, now look at us.
 
The big Sports networks (Sportklub and Arena sports) across the Balkans shows almost every European league live but have dropped SPFL from their schedules this season. Think I was the only guy in Croatia watching it!!!

Funny enough I was out in Georgia (country) and turned the telly on to find the Rangers game on a Sunday afternoon, I would imagine the hotel was showing council telly because there was no EPL action, I would think the EPL action was on their equivalent of Sky and Scottish football would have been the cheaper option for council telly.
 
IIRC, the SPL knocked back a bumper deal with Sky trying to play hardball - ended up having to sign with the BBC for a year to get something, anything - then went with Setanta.

That decision was the catalyst for shit money coming out way because nobody ever bid that high again.

Correct. Us from 1998 and admittedly the tims from 2001 were increasing and improving the profile of the game and the halwits in charge along with the diddy clubs voted for this disaster SPLTV.

Ended up with BBC only in Scotland. Couldn't even see the matches in England!

We should have quit the SPL and applied to England the moment that vote happened.
 
2012-13. Missed the boat big time. TalkSPORT did a poll of Conference chairmen, 75% in favour of us joining Conference North. We were three promotions away from a return to the Scottish Premier, when we could have been five promotions from the EPL and all the riches that went with it. The EFL would not have refused us, had we earned promotion from the Conference like everyone else, and nor could the Premier League have a leg to stand on if we had earned promotion from the Championship. The years in the wilderness would have been slightly longer, but the possibility was there staring us in the face.
 
2012-13. Missed the boat big time. TalkSPORT did a poll of Conference chairmen, 75% in favour of us joining Conference North. We were three promotions away from a return to the Scottish Premier, when we could have been five promotions from the EPL and all the riches that went with it. The EFL would not have refused us, had we earned promotion from the Conference like everyone else, and nor could the Premier League have a leg to stand on if we had earned promotion from the Championship. The years in the wilderness would have been slightly longer, but the possibility was there staring us in the face.
While I believe it would be the only way we would get to England I don't think it would be easy. The championship is a very tough league and there's a few teams there just now who wouldn't look out of place in the Premier League.
 
While I believe it would be the only way we would get to England I don't think it would be easy. The championship is a very tough league and there's a few teams there just now who wouldn't look out of place in the Premier League.

Agree completely, but we had a minimum of three (turned out to be four) "wasted" years outside of the top flight anyway, surely that was the time to take the plunge.
 
The TV companies will never give Scottish football the investment it needs. Just sign up to RTV give the club your cash direct forget sky and BT. The commentary during our games is shocking , I can no longer listen to their crap and I will not give them another penny.
 
I've heard BT are interested in taking the whole of Scottish football when the rights are up. Should hopefully bump the cash up a bit as Sky won't want to lose the 4 scum games.

can think of nothing worse. Their coverage is already awful.
 
Yep I wouldn't pay a penny for it. Zgemma all the way and RTV and a VPN for any ones we broadcast on our own.
 
The TV companies will never give Scottish football the investment it needs. Just sign up to RTV give the club your cash direct forget sky and BT. The commentary during our games is shocking , I can no longer listen to their crap and I will not give them another penny.

I'd like to but this isn't any good for UK based bears who can not get RTV live broadcasts.....
 
Would do more damage than good to boycott. I think more and more will leave naturally in favour of kodi however.
 
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