As much as I would love to see wider coverage of Scottish football, it’s never going to be as appealing or commercially viable as other leagues, as it stands. Crowd sizes have much to do with that as does the quality of the football itself. My wife and I will watch (e.g.) a Bournemouth v Brentford 12.30 kickoff on TV, or a game from the English Championship, but a televised late season Falkirk v St Mirren wouldn’t quite have the same appeal.
So I can’t see it changing beyond the top five or six getting the lions share of coverage, especially when the game involves the Old Firm. What is infuriating is the deals with the likes of Premier TV, which means paying yet another subscription (which I refuse to do) to get a lot of the big games.
The best hope is that BBC Scotland finally waken up to their obligation to show longer highlights of ALL the games, not just the pathetic 5 minute nod to teams like Livingston, St Johnstone and others. And put the highlights show on at a reasonable time, not tucked away at quarter to midnight. They really neglect their duty to Scottish football fans.
Coverage of the Championship would also benefit the game, and a highlights show would be well received. My team, Livi, were out of their depth in the Premiership last season, but I know that the coming season is going to be much more enjoyable. More competitive, plenty to play for, and NO VAR! (But much poorer refereeing as a downside!) A lot of championship games are really entertaining and decent to watch.
I do believe a change in league structure is tied in with coverage. It would benefit the game and make tv coverage more appealing. A Premiership expanded to 18/20 teams is the way forward and has been for some time. As ever, the Old Firm’s strangling grip on the structure is the single biggest obstacle to that change - they won’t give up their 4 OF games per season, and their deal with Premier TV.
So I’ve got my Livi season ticket, but don’t expect to see any tv coverage of Livi beyond brief highlights of cup games. That’s Scottish TV football for you - it’s the old firm or nothing.
Commenting before reading, but it'll be x games rights with less than half x shown, then it'll get distributed across 4 or 5 subscriptions so we need to pay a fortune if we want every game. The metrics on your previous article were painful to see
3pm black out is outdated. And given what we have to pay to watch it don't think its unreasonable to have all broadcast, id accept 8 cameras over 14 if it meant all games could be available, especially pertinent if you don't follow rangers or celtic.
It would be interesting to get real value by thinking outside the box a bit
As much as I would love to see wider coverage of Scottish football, it’s never going to be as appealing or commercially viable as other leagues, as it stands. Crowd sizes have much to do with that as does the quality of the football itself. My wife and I will watch (e.g.) a Bournemouth v Brentford 12.30 kickoff on TV, or a game from the English Championship, but a televised late season Falkirk v St Mirren wouldn’t quite have the same appeal.
So I can’t see it changing beyond the top five or six getting the lions share of coverage, especially when the game involves the Old Firm. What is infuriating is the deals with the likes of Premier TV, which means paying yet another subscription (which I refuse to do) to get a lot of the big games.
The best hope is that BBC Scotland finally waken up to their obligation to show longer highlights of ALL the games, not just the pathetic 5 minute nod to teams like Livingston, St Johnstone and others. And put the highlights show on at a reasonable time, not tucked away at quarter to midnight. They really neglect their duty to Scottish football fans.
Coverage of the Championship would also benefit the game, and a highlights show would be well received. My team, Livi, were out of their depth in the Premiership last season, but I know that the coming season is going to be much more enjoyable. More competitive, plenty to play for, and NO VAR! (But much poorer refereeing as a downside!) A lot of championship games are really entertaining and decent to watch.
I do believe a change in league structure is tied in with coverage. It would benefit the game and make tv coverage more appealing. A Premiership expanded to 18/20 teams is the way forward and has been for some time. As ever, the Old Firm’s strangling grip on the structure is the single biggest obstacle to that change - they won’t give up their 4 OF games per season, and their deal with Premier TV.
So I’ve got my Livi season ticket, but don’t expect to see any tv coverage of Livi beyond brief highlights of cup games. That’s Scottish TV football for you - it’s the old firm or nothing.
Commenting before reading, but it'll be x games rights with less than half x shown, then it'll get distributed across 4 or 5 subscriptions so we need to pay a fortune if we want every game. The metrics on your previous article were painful to see
3pm black out is outdated. And given what we have to pay to watch it don't think its unreasonable to have all broadcast, id accept 8 cameras over 14 if it meant all games could be available, especially pertinent if you don't follow rangers or celtic.
It would be interesting to get real value by thinking outside the box a bit