Celtic vote in favour but new SPFL telly deal with Sky Sports is in doubt

A new five years telly deal with Sky Sports is reported to be in jeopardy despite the backing of Celtic and 10 other Premiership clubs.

The current broadcast deal has proved far from popular with fans and viewers with Sky failing to use up their full allocation of fixtures and providing lukewarm coverage of their live games.

With the current five year deal yet to reach the midway point it seems strange that there is a rush to add on five more years, committing Scottish football until the end of the 2029/30 season.

Today Sky Sports will show their second fixture of the campaign from Celtic Park, leaving them with two more matches to screen with Celtic unable to offer any of those matches on Pay-Per-View.

Reporting on the negotiations behind the scenes at the SPFL, Stephen McGowan of the Daily Mail reveals:

The fate of a £150million broadcast deal between Sky and the SPFL hangs in the balance after Rangers left league chiefs sweating over their final decision.

Premiership clubs were granted 28 days to deliberate over a new £30m-a-season extension to the current Sky agreement, with a voting deadline set for midnight on Saturday.

Eleven of the 12 top-tier teams have already said yes. Final agreement is conditional, however, on all 12 agreeing to a rule change permitting Sky to increase the number of home games they show from each ground from four per season to five. With the deadline edging closer, Rangers have yet to offer a view on the matter.

Rival clubs hope the Ibrox club will submit a letter of waiver ‘before’ the deadline lapses tomorrow. Failure to do so would see the resolution fail and place the Sky deal on the verge of collapse.

Prior to the current exclusive deal Sky shared coverage of the SPFL with BT Sport who would jump at any Celtic away matches not taken up by their rivals.

Last season Celtic away games at Hibs, Motherwell and Aberdeen weren’t shown live giving clubs the option of PPV, this season that is no longer on the table with the recent Ross County SPFL away match not available in the UK.