SKY bow to punter pressure to back SPL deal
With Rangers about to be liquidated there has been a regular flow of rumours that Sky will pull out of their contract with the SPL if they don’t have four Glasgow derby fixtures to screen.
Various SPL clubs, including Kilmarnock and Dundee United, have gone public with their concerns and fears about a drop in broadcasting income.
No proof has ever been displayed to say that Sky’s contract demands four derby fixtures a season but with fear of the post-Rangers era gripping some clubs a doomsday scenario has been given oxygen.
Supporters angry at the notion that Scottish football could be held hostage by Sky have bombarded the satellite broadcaster with their complaints.
On-line petitions have been started with Sky’s help team on twitter trying their best to avert a subscription boycott with Scottish football fans ready to cancel their £40/month payments if Sky pull the plug on the SPL.
Reacting to that threat Sky’s PR team are in today’s newspapers denying that they are about to ditch Scottish football.
A spokesman is quoted saying: “Sky has never, ever discussed pulling out of covering Scottish football.
“We have not discussed that possibility, either with the SPL or any other footballing authority. Nor has that been on the agenda for consideration within Sky, despite all the problems and difficulties being faced by Scottish football at present.
“If Rangers are not in the SPL, that would change things for us, naturally. It would leave a quality hole in Scotland’s top division.
Competition would deteriorate and, in that event, we would have to renegotiate.but let us be very clear we have always tried to be supportive of Scottish football and have never made any negative noises or sent any negative messages.
“Scottish football is still very much in our plans for the future. Walking away has never been on our agenda.
“We have, in the past, been asked for our opinions, but we believe that football should be run by the football authorities. We are a TV company.”
Last week Sky signed a three year extension to their contract with the English Premiership sharing the rights to live matches with BT.
With ESPN losing out the American based channel may turn to showing more Scottish football while BT will be looking for more than four live Premiership games per month to fill their schedule.
Celtic’s non-executive director Ian Livingston is the chief executive of BT and conducted the negotiations to secure the live Premiership rights.
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