SENTINELCELTS

I read yesterdays news regarding a potential new TV deal with great interest. As always however, the devil is in the detail.

Okay so the clubs are offering more televised games in the new package so yes its not a pay raise but it is actually good leveraging of your collective product. In theory the income boost helps further stimulate a top flight I maintain is on the rise thus not only negating the stay at home on the night supporter but attract larger numbers into the stadium in general due to a better product. At least that would be the plan and in fairness theres not many clubs that do not sign well these days.

Ten or fifteen years ago I would have said a better TV deal is dead in the water, these days every Tom,Dick, and Harry wants a slice of the pie/any pie to try and entice subscribers. While we were always Sky’s filler content, there’s no reason we couldnt flip to a different platform and elevated/promoted/exposed much better than Sky. Off the top of my head I count 7 media outlets that could bid for some number of SPL games and while unfortunately that’s bad news for TV viewers with all the different subscriptions needed, imo opening up the revenue stream right under your nose makes perfect sense for the SPL clubs.

I also believe it is collectively clever to demand an actual deal rather than a broadcaster paying for an individual game, that’s not only less Pay Per View matches thank God but also stops the Big2/3 pocketing the majority of the extra income via being given the most airtime and subsequently renumerated better than the others.

Plus to be honest its a good time to get more exposure as the top flight is going to get very interesting over the next decade. With Bloom, the various Yanks, Dermot retiring,,the SPL might look ordinary at first glance but its in a state of flux and will evolve for the better therefore there really should be broadcaster interest in the product. For all the EPL hype it’s mostly about Man Utd finding their way back to the summit, if Hearts get their hands on a title that approach would have double buy-in up north from the tradional Big2,,,there’s your broadcasters dream and whoever holds the rights should that come to pass will hit the proverbial jackpot and I give that scenario 3/4 years max.

More games on TV will mean more terrible commentators more often though, don’t say you haven’t been warned.

By Mahe
sentinelcelts@gmail.com