Sky Sports are Taking the Piss Thread

[ropy]

20 minutes ago, Jan mosniack said:

Can guarantee that if there is a loser today it will be a case of “the game didnae matter anyway”

0-0 draw you would imagine, winks all round 

[Ranaldo Bairn]

They must be worried about losing viewers for the end of the Barclays.

All the ads are "It's not over yet!" (Narrator: it actually is all over) and some spurious nonsense about Liverpool and Man U to desperately try to create some meaningful narrative.

[Ray Patterson]

4 hours ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

They must be worried about losing viewers for the end of the Barclays.

All the ads are "It's not over yet!" (Narrator: it actually is all over) and some spurious nonsense about Liverpool and Man U to desperately try to create some meaningful narrative.

Well mad pitch invasions have covered that tbf.

[The Master]

On 30/04/2021 at 14:53, ahemps said:

I take it the SPFL don't break up the games into packages like the EPL? I believe they break up the games into different categories and sell them all at different rates.

We all know Sky are only interested in the old firm but the next time the TV deal comes round you could sell a separate package of say Friday night games every 2nd week and can only show a min and max of each team 3-5 times a season. You are right that Sky probably wouldn't care about losing St Johnstone v Hamilton on a Friday night so wouldn't bid for it and/or the SPFL make it only available for free to air tv.

The EPL break their rights into packages because the European Commission forced them to do so along with a "no single buyer" rule. They then realised that it was actually a good thing because it drove the price up, which is why is persists to this day.

The main difference between the EPL and SPFL is that the broadcasters need the EPL as much as the EPL need the broadcasters. The SPFL are in a considerably weaker position, partly because there's no broadcaster that needs to show Scottish football. As much as Sky want a certain four games a season, they also know very few people subscribe exclusively for the SPFL.

One of the main reasons for that the broadcasters are UK-wide, with the Scottish subscriber base being relatively small. There's also the uneven level of interest: people in Scotland will still subscribe to Sky and BT to watch the EPL, but very few people in England would continue to subscribe if all they could watch was the SPFL. 

[ahemps]

9 minutes ago, The Master said:

The EPL break their rights into packages because the European Commission forced them to do so along with a "no single buyer" rule. They then realised that it was actually a good thing because it drove the price up, which is why is persists to this day.

The main difference between the EPL and SPFL is that the broadcasters need the EPL as much as the EPL need the broadcasters. The SPFL are in a considerably weaker position, partly because there's no broadcaster that needs to show Scottish football. As much as Sky want a certain four games a season, they also know very few people subscribe exclusively for the SPFL.

One of the main reasons for that the broadcasters are UK-wide, with the Scottish subscriber base being relatively small. There's also the uneven level of interest: people in Scotland will still subscribe to Sky and BT to watch the EPL, but very few people in England would continue to subscribe if all they could watch was the SPFL. 

I didn't know that, thanks. 

Would the SPFL be allowed to sell different packages though? I am only thinking of a low category package that BBC Scotland or STV could pick up, games not involving the OF and find a space (very view left) that doesn't have football on. I think the Friday night championship games have done pretty well with viewing figures, could we not fit the odd game in then.

We are horrendous at trying to promote our own game especially the non OF side of it. 

Football survives on blind loyalty in Scotland, if the product we have today was just getting started nobody would be interested.

[The Master]

Just now, ahemps said:

I didn't know that, thanks. 

Would the SPFL be allowed to sell different packages though? I am only thinking of a low category package that BBC Scotland or STV could pick up, games not involving the OF and find a space (very view left) that doesn't have football on. I think the Friday night championship games have done pretty well with viewing figures, could we not fit the odd game in then.

We are horrendous at trying to promote our own game especially the non OF side of it. 

Football survives on blind loyalty in Scotland, if the product we have today was just getting started nobody would be interested.

The SPFL can sell their rights in any way they want, but the way they sell is largely dictated by the buyers.

If they were to split into packages and say that one must be bought by a different broadcaster, Sky would threaten to walk away because they want exclusivity. Even though they would never dream of showing St Johnstone v St Mirren or Livingston v Hamilton, that's not the point: they don't want anyone to be able to (legally) watch any live Scottish Premiership games anywhere else. That's why the clubs had to jump through hoops to be able to offer PPV streaming this season. 

[Empty It]

The SPFL can sell their rights in any way they want, but the way they sell is largely dictated by the buyers.
If they were to split into packages and say that one must be bought by a different broadcaster, Sky would threaten to walk away because they want exclusivity. Even though they would never dream of showing St Johnstone v St Mirren or Livingston v Hamilton, that's not the point: they don't want anyone to be able to (legally) watch any live Scottish Premiership games anywhere else. That's why the clubs had to jump through hoops to be able to offer PPV streaming this season. 

Would be interesting to see what the clubs made on PPV this season in comparison to the usual tv money.

[Ludo*1]

This highlights package for a game they had the rights for but chose not to show. Showing their depth of care for the Scottish game:

 

[Ranaldo Bairn]

I think I saw a tweet from the SPFL that the BBC have now acquired the rights to the Premiership QF and SF playoffs, is that right?

Presume it kicks in next year?

[craigkillie]

2 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

I think I saw a tweet from the SPFL that the BBC have now acquired the rights to the Premiership QF and SF playoffs, is that right?

Presume it kicks in next year?

It's starting from this season's semi-final.

[RiG]

9 minutes ago, Ranaldo Bairn said:

I think I saw a tweet from the SPFL that the BBC have now acquired the rights to the Premiership QF and SF playoffs, is that right?

Presume it kicks in next year?

The SPFL bought back the rights from Sky (who it would seem have little to no interest in the games) and the BBC will now show the QF and SF starting with, as CraigKillie says, this seasons SF. Sky retain the rights to show the final however.

[accies1874]

It's always annoyed me that the QFs have never* been shown so I'm all for this.

*Aside from the one Rangers were involved in obvs.

[Cptn Hooch]

4 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

It's always annoyed me that the QFs have never* been shown so I'm all for this.

*Aside from the one Rangers were involved in obvs.

I seem to remember seeing the Dundee United v Dunfermline QFs the year Livi won the playoffs. I'm not sure how legitimate the source of the video was right enough

 

[Ron Aldo]

[TheScarf]

They have to show old firm dead rubbers before they’d sully themselves with games that still mean something.

Edit - I know it’s part of the deal before anyone starts.

Edited May 10, 2021 by TheScarf

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

I think the only non OF home game County have had on Sky this season was the flukey 1-0 win against Motherwell on the opening weekend.

[Jacky1990]

Full card tonight, including 4th v 3rd and two huge matches in terms of relegation.

Baffling they dont have a match on tonight. Not even one of the arsecheeks.

[craigkillie]

Unless they manage to show 8 matches on the final weekend, they're going to end up short of their quota.

The only way that is even remotely acceptable is if they've held them back to next season because they want to show games with fans present. I doubt that's the case, and even if it is there's no reason to completely ignore what is actually a pretty exciting relegation battle and chase for Europe.

[LiviLion]

I was starting to assume they only had a couple games left, thought Livi v Rangers would have been the obvious lazy choice so just thought they only had a couple and were saving them for the last game.

[G51]

Would love to hear some kind of explanation as to why Sky are doing this. A three way relegation fight with only one safe spot will absolutely generate viewers.