http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/2011/07/03/spl-could-ditch-sky-and-espn-tv-deals-to-maximise-income-from-other-broadcasters-86908-23244362/
Nobody will give Scottish football better coverage than Sky, at club AND international level. It's HD services are a lot better, so are their 3D services! think what you like about Murdoch and his industries but Sky are top notch at providing football coverage, BBC Scotland can't even be bothered to fork out enough to show the highlights on the day the games are held!
Being part of the Sky Sports packages means better coverage on SSN and Soccer A.M.,
My only dislikes about the current deal are stupid kick-off times and that some matches are shown on ESPN and quite frankly I know i'm not the only one that can't afford or refuse to shell out for two different sports packages
But that's the SPL for you, only bothered about their bank balances, couldn't give a stuff about the actual game or what the paying public want!
Where exactly?!
posted on 3/7/11
imo sky would be better off funding a 10 team spl with mega money (market it world wide) than trying to fund a 20 team epl just my opinion
posted on 3/7/11
My main fear is that an SPL run TV station will end up like a TV version of "Fishwife FM" on BBC Radio Scotland every Saturday from 2pm!
posted on 3/7/11
Let's be honest, the money Sky Sports are paying to broadcast the SPL is to show the four Old Firm games every year. Hence, every other SPL game is on Sky Sports 4, whereas the Old Firm games are on Sky Sports 1 or Sky Sports2.
I actually liked Setanta, it should never have tried to compete with Sky Sports though for English Football.
At least with Sky Sports the Old Firm game will attract viewers from across the United Kingdom. But an SPL TV won't. The English pay for English football and will watch the Old Firm game just because they have it on their subscription.
posted on 3/7/11
At least with Sky Sports the Old Firm game will attract viewers from across the United Kingdom. But an SPL TV won't. The English pay for English football and will watch the Old Firm game just because they have it on their subscription.
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The thing is, this benefits Sky not the SPL. OF games could attract the highest audience figures on Sky, but it would make no difference to the clubs financially. What Scottish football needs is more money from pay TV if it has any chance of improving at all.
posted on 3/7/11
Let's be honest...SKY is generally a good thing for the SPL. But the clubs are not benefitting to their full potentil. There are lot of ex-pts like me who cannot legitimtely get SKY overseas. They're missing trick here. Sky really ought to look into ensuring they are mximising their audience. Hving said that Rangers TV on the internet hs been excellent for watching live games. But I would much rather watch it on the box than on a pc...Would an SPL tv be able to scale itself to provide a global service ? Not sure they are upto that....but SKY certainly could ...
posted on 3/7/11
Did you watch some of the games last season, particularly the ones on ESPN?
Hamilton v St Mirren, Kilmarnock v ICT, St Johnstone v Motherwell etc.
At times it looked like there were more people on the pitch than there were in the stands! It's an embarrassment. Not to mention the state of some of the pitches and the 'quality' of the football on offer.
I'm all for getting the best for Scottish football but is it any wonder Sky is only interested in showing games involving Celtic and Rangers?
posted on 3/7/11
Nice one Harry. But that ain't sky's fault. That is the fault of the clubs and the SPL in general for a dire product. Only interested in themselves. U only have took at the fiasco of trying to force a 10 team SPL on us again. The fans have said over and over 14 or 16 teams but they ain't listening. So it comes as no surprise crowds are dwindling. Add the economic circumstances to the mix then clubs gave to be more creative in how they get pol thru the turnstiles. Better value is required
posted on 3/7/11
Did you watch some of the games last season, particularly the ones on ESPN?
Hamilton v St Mirren, Kilmarnock v ICT, St Johnstone v Motherwell etc.
At times it looked like there were more people on the pitch than there were in the stands! It's an embarrassment. Not to mention the state of some of the pitches and the 'quality' of the football on offer.
I'm all for getting the best for Scottish football but is it any wonder Sky is only interested in showing games involving Celtic and Rangers?
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I don't blame them but if things keep going the way they are then there will be even less people watching an even lower standard of football.
An SPL channel that also includes SFL coverage for around a fiver a month sounds great to me rather than having to subscribe to Sky/ESPN for channels filled with stuff like cricket and other sports I have no interest in. It could also take off on Freeview meaning it would be affordable to folk not interested in the costs of getting satellite and cable.
I'm not saying it will work, but it's worth looking into.
posted on 3/7/11
Harvey, esctosh, you make some really valid points,
Don't know if Rangers TV on the net is similar to Channel 67 where you can only see the matches live if you're outwith the UK, personally i'd be quite happy to watch the coverage on my clubs own channel, pundits trying to be impartial is utterly hopeless as there are too many football fans horrendously over-read into comments and opinions by pundits
If Sky keep the rights they'd be the best ones to package the SPL as it is, but an SPL TV would need a whole restructuring of the SPL as things like teams playing each other 4 times a month and midday kick-offs are helping to kill the game just as much as the stupid media nonsense last season
posted on 4/7/11
Celtic and to a lesser extent Rangers, should do what the Milan clubs, barca and Madrid do and fight to get their own contracts, even with the hmaga bucks in the epl, the top 5 or 6 are desperate to do their own deals as they know the whole 20/22 club bubble will eventually burst