Sky Sports are Taking the Piss Thread

[Ranaldo Bairn]

My brother had a Saints ST at the time and living in Perth as I did/nearly still do, I used to go along to quite a few games at McD. That 0-0 was one of them.

The 7-2 was one I was definitely at. There was a ludicrous 4-4 against DFC as well wasn't there? Also remember a few LC ties against Hearts and Celtic where I think SJ lost in ET on both occasions.

Edited March 25, 2021 by Ranaldo Bairn

[craigkillie]

Bet this is the case for lots of clubs. I cant remember last time one of our away games was on Sky.
BT would spread the games around but obviously didnt pay enough.

If BT had this exclusive 48 game contract then I'd bet they'd pretty much show exactly the same games. The reason they used to have more diverse games was that it used to be 60 games and they were secondary broadcaster and therefore Sky would pick up a lot of the "bigger" games.

With BT, you would however have most likely got better coverage of the games because Sunset & Vine do a much better job than Sky. Having said that, they've started to use Alex Rae quite a lot and he is quite possibly the worst analyst going.

[The Marly]

My brother had a Saints ST at the time and living in Perth as I did/nearly still do, I used to go along to quite a few games at McD. That 0-0 was one of them.
The 7-2 was one I was definitely at. There was a ludicrous 4-4 against DFC as well wasn't there? Also remember a few LC ties against Hearts and Celtic where I think SJ lost in ET on both occasions.

Aye the 4-4 still makes me shudder. 4-2 up, they were down to 10 men and had a half blind dwarf in goal and we managed to only draw.

[Ray Patterson]

12 hours ago, craigkillie said:

If BT had this exclusive 48 game contract then I'd bet they'd pretty much show exactly the same games. The reason they used to have more diverse games was that it used to be 60 games and they were secondary broadcaster and therefore Sky would pick up a lot of the "bigger" games.

With BT, you would however have most likely got better coverage of the games because Sunset & Vine do a much better job than Sky. Having said that, they've started to use Alex Rae quite a lot and he is quite possibly the worst analyst going.

I've found Stephen Craigan as of late similarly grating.
 

[Jimi Shandrix]

On 27/03/2021 at 11:37, The Marly said:

On 25/03/2021 at 13:30, Ranaldo Bairn said:

My brother had a Saints ST at the time and living in Perth as I did/nearly still do, I used to go along to quite a few games at McD. That 0-0 was one of them.
The 7-2 was one I was definitely at. There was a ludicrous 4-4 against DFC as well wasn't there? Also remember a few LC ties against Hearts and Celtic where I think SJ lost in ET on both occasions.

Aye the 4-4 still makes me shudder. 4-2 up, they were down to 10 men and had a half blind dwarf in goal and we managed to only draw.

A truly magnificent game of football. Morten Weighorst's debut for the Dees. He scored a fucking blinder as well. 

[Ludo*1]

On 25/03/2021 at 06:35, Steve McQueen said:

Bet this is the case for lots of clubs. I cant remember last time one of our away games was on Sky.

BT would spread the games around but obviously didnt pay enough.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the next time the rights come up we should really be considering how the channel will promote our game opposed to just the monetary figure.

BT offering less money might be more valuable to the game long term due to the fact they put in a substantial amount of effort to promote it (at least in comparative terms). BT might also turn out to be the exact same as Sky should they be the only provider. This is where Doncaster should be doing his homework. What is the best deal for the best exposure?

Suckling Sky's teet isn't a positive and Sky have absolutely zero intention of trying to attract more eyeballs. They treat us as a channel filler and nothing more. I don't necessarily blame Sky for that - but we should be looking into other avenues where possible.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Ludo*1

[Ira Gaines]

The clubs will be looking at the money. There for the negotiations will revolve around the money.

Doncaster will do what the clubs ask him to do. He's nothing more than their puppet.

[Ludo*1]

29 minutes ago, Andre Drazen said:

The clubs will be looking at the money. There for the negotiations will revolve around the money.

Doncaster will do what the clubs ask him to do. He's nothing more than their puppet.

And that's why we signed with Sky. It's short term thinking.

[Dons_1988]

8 hours ago, Ludo*1 said:

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the next time the rights come up we should really be considering how the channel will promote our game opposed to just the monetary figure.

BT offering less money might be more valuable to the game long term due to the fact they put in a substantial amount of effort to promote it (at least in comparative terms). BT might also turn out to be the exact same as Sky should they be the only provider. This is where Doncaster should be doing his homework. What is the best deal for the best exposure?

Suckling Sky's teet isn't a positive and Sky have absolutely zero intention of trying to attract more eyeballs. They treat us as a channel filler and nothing more. I don't necessarily blame Sky for that - but we should be looking into other avenues where possible.

The thread should be renamed 'the SPFL are allowing/encouraging Sky to take the piss' to be honest.

 

[RandomGuy.]

7 hours ago, Ludo*1 said:

And that's why we signed with Sky. It's short term thinking.

What TV company would pay similar money for less OF bias?

Please don't say SPFL TV which is a ridiculous idea IMO.

Clubs couldn't afford to go a single season without any TV revenue.

[Dons_1988]

5 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

What TV company would pay similar money for less OF bias?

Please don't say SPFL TV which is a ridiculous idea IMO.

Clubs couldn't afford to go a single season without any TV revenue.

It's less a case of just picking another provider.

The SPFL needs to find ways of increasing demand, generating competition, increasing revenues other than TV money (both SPFL collectively and individual clubs) wuch that there is less reliance on Sky propping up the league by treating us as a 3rd rate product.

Not saying any of the above is easy but currently there is a laziness, that if we just squeeze a wee bit more out of Sky for their current level of coverage then it's job done and pats on the back all round.

Your final sentence sums it up, as long as that dynamic continues, Sky will continue to deliver whatever low budget pish content they want.

[csteinle]

34 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

What TV company would pay similar money for less OF bias?

Please don't say SPFL TV which is a ridiculous idea IMO.

Clubs couldn't afford to go a single season without any TV revenue.

Last time around the SPFL should have been aggressively courting Amazon. They could have used Scottish football as a testbed for sports in the UK, and a streaming platform would have allowed more diverse coverage. I suspect that ship may have sailed now they have some EPL and international rugby rights.

[craigkillie]

Amazon's coverage of English football is shite, and excludes loads of people who don't have a good internet connection and/or the tech savvy to properly set it up. I have a really fast fibre connection and even still the picture was laggy and with a terrible frame rate. I'd rather wait until this sort of technology actually works properly before we get on board with it.

[AJF]

I like the convenience of Sky holding the rights as I usually have their Sports package anyway as I watch English football and other sports occasionally but the SPFL product they serve up is normally substandard.

I'd quite like to see an SPFL equivalent to Monday Night Football where they spend a good bit of time reviewing the tactical side of matches and debating various points. I'd also like to see the commentators and pundits grow some balls and defend the SPFL. How often this season have we seen an absolutely dire 'Super Sunday' match in the English Premiership yet afterwards you hear the usual "fantastic tactical battle", "intriguing contest" and "fascinating match".

Now, I'm not saying they should try and replicate this. We know the standard in Scotland is relative to the budgets our teams have, but at least have them showing a bit of pride and passion about our game. The only person that has really got this for me is Darren Fletcher who really appreciates the fact that while the product on offer isn't always the best, we still absolutely love it and we are a country that just loves football.

Move away from the laughing stock image we currently have and celebrate the imperfections by making them more exciting.

Edited March 30, 2021 by AJF

[accies1874]

I like the convenience of Sky holding the rights as I usually have their Sports package anyway as I watch English football and other sports occasionally but the SPFL product they serve up is normally substandard.
I'd quite like to see an SPFL equivalent to Monday Night Football where they spend a good bit of time reviewing the tactical side of matches and debating various points. I'd also like to see the commentators and pundits grow some balls and defend the SPFL. How often this season have we seen an absolutely dire 'Super Sunday' match in the English Premiership yet afterwards you hear the usual "fantastic tactical battle", "intriguing contest" and "fascinating match".
Now, I'm not saying they should try and replicate this. We know the standard in Scotland is relative to the budgets our teams have, but at least have them showing a bit of pride and passion about our game. The only person that has really got this for me is Darren Fletcher who really appreciates the fact that while the product on offer isn't always the best, we still absolutely love it and we are a country that just loves football.
Move away from the laughing stock image we currently have and celebrate the imperfections by making them more exciting.

An MNF equivalent would be great but I don't think many, if any, of the current pundits are up to it. Two of Fletcher/McCoist/McCann would be decent but two of them have other demanding jobs in football and McCoist seems to get more gigs in England. We'd end up with Boyd and Hartson or McFadden anyway. In all honesty, I'd prefer a return to Friday night football - nothing could beat a game between two diddies the night before your own team played.

In terms of hyping the product up, I honestly think binning Crocker would help with that a lot. He comes across as being desperate to sound bored, like yer da telling everyone how little he knows about modern things. He can't do his job unless there's some mega narrative.

[realmadrid]

49 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

In all honesty, I'd prefer a return to Friday night football - nothing could beat a game between two diddies the night before your own team played.
 

The BBC Scotland championship game is perfect for this

I don't mind that style in any way at all as its a good build up to the weekend and the BBC have shown a variety of teams this season.

[PB1994]

6 hours ago, csteinle said:

Last time around the SPFL should have been aggressively courting Amazon. They could have used Scottish football as a testbed for sports in the UK, and a streaming platform would have allowed more diverse coverage. I suspect that ship may have sailed now they have some EPL and international rugby rights.

The vast majority of people outside of Scotland don’t give a f**k about Scottish Football so it would have been completely pointless for Amazon to use it as a test.

[csteinle]

The vast majority of people outside of Scotland don’t give a f**k about Scottish Football so it would have been completely pointless for Amazon to use it as a test.

Depends what you're trying to test. Uptake in Scotland would give an indication as to the appetite for streaming sports UK-wide, and treat it like a smaller-scale roll out to iron out problems before taking on something larger. Somewhat of a moot point now, though.

[Ludo*1]

8 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

What TV company would pay similar money for less OF bias?

Please don't say SPFL TV which is a ridiculous idea IMO.

Clubs couldn't afford to go a single season without any TV revenue.

I don't know. Perhaps a joint deal?

On the Amazon point, it'd have been good to try and be a 'trendsetter'. Once that platform has been perfected, then there'll be no need for us.

My point is that to accept this is as good a coverage as Scottish football will ever get is wrong.

We need to market our game differently long term.

The likes of Roger Mitchell & Stewart Regan have practically openly admitted that the only selling point for Scottish football is the OF. We need to endeavour to change that.

I know John Nelms isn't a respected name these days by many within Scottish football, but I think he was absolutely spot on when he said he can't believe that we just model ourselves as a poorer version of English football but have the OF. He went on to say that we should market our league as the 'toughest' league to play in or something. It was full of American cringe, but the overall message he was trying to convey was a strong one. We'll never get anywhere with that sort of short term attitude.

[RandomGuy.]

40 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

I don't know. Perhaps a joint deal?

On the Amazon point, it'd have been good to try and be a 'trendsetter'. Once that platform has been perfected, then there'll be no need for us.

My point is that to accept this is as good a coverage as Scottish football will ever get is wrong.

We need to market our game differently long term.

The likes of Roger Mitchell & Stewart Regan have practically openly admitted that the only selling point for Scottish football is the OF. We need to endeavour to change that.

I know John Nelms isn't a respected name these days by many within Scottish football, but I think he was absolutely spot on when he said he can't believe that we just model ourselves as a poorer version of English football but have the OF. He went on to say that we should market our league as the 'toughest' league to play in or something. It was full of American cringe, but the overall message he was trying to convey was a strong one. We'll never get anywhere with that sort of short term attitude.

Right. 

So you've no idea how we actually go about it, but some American has pumped out some buzzwords so you've decided his plan is brilliant?

Great stuff.