Another subscription required to watch football.

[Sir David Gray]

The SFA have just announced that a deal has been signed with a company called Viaplay, which is due to launch in the UK later this year, for them to show exclusive coverage of Scotland’s European Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and UEFA EURO 2028, as well as the side’s UEFA Nations League campaigns in 2024/25 and 2026/27, and any international friendlies up to 2028.

The deal is to run between 2024-2028.

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/uefa-announces-viaplay-to-show-2024-28-scotland-men-s-national-team-matches/

[Viva_Palmeiras]

Enough is enough. Not too sure what I’ll do once the PPV option for Hibs TV ends - circumstances dictates that’s the best option for me. Subscription services have got way out of hand.

[JimBHibees]

Poor by the sfa

[Since90+2]

Be pretty ***** that if the pubs don't show it.

[Mon Dieu4]

Poor by the sfa

Never shy of bashing the SFA but looks like this is down to UEFA

[ClermistonGreen]

Go see the guy whose good with the firesticks ! :aok:

[Onceinawhile]

Poor by the sfa

Absolutely nothing to do with the SFA. The rights are sold through UEFA's centralised tendering process.

The SFA have apparently had conversations about them being free to air, but who knows.

[Sir David Gray]

Absolutely nothing to do with the SFA. The rights are sold through UEFA's centralised tendering process.

The SFA have apparently had conversations about them being free to air, but who knows.

They said they have had talks about "some" of the matches being free to air.

[JamesHFC]

They said they have had talks about "some" of the matches being free to air.

I think friendlies at the very least should be free to air. Austria v Scotland last month on Sky Sports whilst England v Ivory Coast is on STV.

[G15 Hibs]

This is a pity as a real connection between folk and the national team was building up for the first time in years. While Sky isn't perfect, this will be significantly worse in maintaining that connection.

[SlickShoes]

At the very minimum national team games should be free to air for everyone in Scotland, for all major sports.

I'll continue to watch illegally I guess, can't afford to maintain multiple subscriptions to watch one sport.

[HendoDelivered]

Go see the guy whose good with the firesticks ! :aok:

Was gonna post similar. :greengrin

[Moulin Yarns]

I remember the time when you were lucky to get a cup final and the home Internationals live on TV and there were only 3 channels. Other games were restricted to highlight programmes late at night.

[Green_one]

They said they have had talks about "some" of the matches being free to air.

Brilliant, the SFA move into subscription when half the world is moving out. Yeah people have loads of spare cash to pay for things that were free.

Maybe someone should speak to Netflix and Disney to see how that is going. :rolleyes:

[G15 Hibs]

I remember the time when you were lucky to get a cup final and the home Internationals live on TV and there were only 3 channels. Other games were restricted to highlight programmes late at night.

It's pretty much back to that if you don't want to pay sports channel subscriptions.

[SHODAN]

This is ****ing ridiculous. I'm not paying for that.

[Carheenlea]

What will ultimately happen when yet more subscriptions are required to watch football is that fans will not just cancel one subscription but just cancel the whole lot and opt for IPTV.

If the game was more accessible and affordable for TV viewing then there wouldn’t be the same demand for the fire sticks and what not. Most fans would be happy to pay something but multiple requirements for subs to deferent channels to access content is out of reach for the average person. Particularly those who support the game by buying Season Tickets to follow their own clubs.

However much money fans plough into their clubs and corporate broadcasters, it’s never enough. Folk will be wising up very soon and that will be to the detriment of the bigger media players.

[bigwheel]

This is ****ing ridiculous. I'm not paying for that.

With you on that , will lead to me not watching the games . Really poor that the SFA have thought about income more than fans here it would seem .

[hibbyfraelibby]

Be pretty ***** that if the pubs don't show it.

Why? If you are so alcohol dependent you can get a few tins of special brew in and watch it in the comfort of your own home.😉

[overdrive]

That's absolutely ridiculous. So, lets say you want to watch SPFL Premiership, League Cup, Scottish Cup, Scottish teams' European games and the national team's games, you are going to need subscriptions to Sky, Premier Sports, BT Sports and now Viaplay. If you want to throw EPL games into the mix, a Amazon Prime subscription as well!

[overdrive]

With you on that , will lead to me not watching the games . Really poor that the SFA have thought about income more than fans here it would seem .

It isn't the SFA. Its UEFA. UEFA control the rights to all international games in Europe.

[ben johnson]

I remember the time when you were lucky to get a cup final and the home Internationals live on TV and there were only 3 channels. Other games were restricted to highlight programmes late at night.

I remember the rest of the UK watched the Wales v Russia WC Q in 1981 live on TV.
but it was blocked in Scotland by the SFA even though the season had ended
It was blocked because 2 Junior matches were being played My Welsh mate was livid. We wrote to the SFA for an explanation and a letter arrived from Ernie Walker He told us in no uncertain terms that the SFA is there to protect ALL football clubs in Scotland and the attendance at the Junior games could be affected.
He ended on a cheery note by telling us The SFA don’t pander to armchair critics and live football would never be allowed on TV on his watch.

[davhibby]

They said they have had talks about "some" of the matches being free to air.

If they could get the away games free to air then that would be a big improvement on what we’ve had since the centralised rights came in.

It will be interesting to see who ends up showing our games for the next 2 years, if it’s BBC/STV that might point to there being a decent chance of them keeping some going forward

[Coco Bryce]

IPTV £35 a year. Every channel under the sun.

[Hibbyradge]

That's absolutely ridiculous. So, lets say you want to watch SPFL Premiership, League Cup, Scottish Cup, Scottish teams' European games and the national team's games, you are going to need subscriptions to Sky, Premier Sports, BT Sports and now Viaplay. If you want to throw EPL games into the mix, a Amazon Prime subscription as well!

Or one IPTV subscription for £100p.a. or less.

[Spudster]

That's absolutely ridiculous. So, lets say you want to watch SPFL Premiership, League Cup, Scottish Cup, Scottish teams' European games and the national team's games, you are going to need subscriptions to Sky, Premier Sports, BT Sports and now Viaplay. If you want to throw EPL games into the mix, a Amazon Prime subscription as well!

At no time in history have all those competitions been available on the same channel. People expect too much IMO.

[SHODAN]

IPTV £35 a year. Every channel under the sun.

Yup.

Cancelled all my sport subscriptions yesterday bar HTV. I'm done.

[degenerated]

The SFA have just announced that a deal has been signed with a company called Viaplay, which is due to launch in the UK later this year, for them to show exclusive coverage of Scotland’s European Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and UEFA EURO 2028, as well as the side’s UEFA Nations League campaigns in 2024/25 and 2026/27, and any international friendlies up to 2028.

The deal is to run between 2024-2028.

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/uefa-announces-viaplay-to-show-2024-28-scotland-men-s-national-team-matches/Will we still get England games on STV when Scotland are playing, that's the important info we need to know.

[Sir David Gray]

If they could get the away games free to air then that would be a big improvement on what we’ve had since the centralised rights came in.

It will be interesting to see who ends up showing our games for the next 2 years, if it’s BBC/STV that might point to there being a decent chance of them keeping some going forward

I think Sky hold the rights until 2024.

[overdrive]

At no time in history have all those competitions been available on the same channel. People expect too much IMO.

But they wouldn’t have required so many separate subscriptions (ignoring IPTV).

It would have been a mix between Sky Sports and the free to air channels. Then Setanta, BT, Premier Sports, Viaplay were added to the mix

[LancashireHibby]

Surely this will be in addition to the Sky coverage and not a replacement for it? Absolutely barmy if so. Almost as barmy as UEFA being in sole control of selling the rights.

[Moulin Yarns]

At no time in history have all those competitions been available on the same channel. People expect too much IMO.


But they wouldn’t have required so many separate subscriptions (ignoring IPTV).

It would have been a mix between Sky Sports and the free to air channels. Then Setanta, BT, Premier Sports, Viaplay were added to the mix

Before Sky came along and ruined it, you could watch the highlights of any domestic competition on terrestrial TV. Then football sold its soul to the devil and Sky Sports was born!

[Ozyhibby]

I have a dodgy Amazon stick that I pay about £40 a year for and it gives me every channel I’d ever want. I now only have a basic sky subscription and Netflix. I don’t pay for any of the others because if signing up for everything is unaffordable for me.


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[Moulin Yarns]

Will it be like watching the games on Alba, but with Scandi commentary? :wink:

https://www.nentgroup.com/brands/viaplay

[Sir David Gray]

Surely this will be in addition to the Sky coverage and not a replacement for it? Absolutely barmy if so. Almost as barmy as UEFA being in sole control of selling the rights.

Sky are losing the rights to show Scotland games from 2024 and Viaplay will have exclusive rights to cover the games until 2028.

[davhibby]

I think Sky hold the rights until 2024.

I think they’re only contracted as far as the playoffs. They’ve just lost England’s Nations League coverage for this year to Channel 4. The SFA statement says they’ll release the details of our coverage for the next 2 years soon.

[bigwheel]

It isn't the SFA. Its UEFA. UEFA control the rights to all international games in Europe.

Thanks for clarifying - less surprised by that soulless , money generating machine - that certainly doesn’t care about fans …..

[Sir David Gray]

I think they’re only contracted as far as the playoffs. They’ve just lost England’s Nations League coverage for this year to Channel 4. The SFA statement says they’ll release the details of our coverage for the next 2 years soon.

So they did apologies I missed that part.

[CropleyWasGod]

Will we still get England games on STV when Scotland are playing, that's the important info we need to know.

Yeah, because ITV put the best bid in.

[ScottB]

We’re at the peak of the ‘streaming boom’ if not already starting to tumble down the other side.

Yeah, Netflix had crazy growth so everyone and their dog has now dived in, but it’s gone from people paying 1 company a tenner a month to god knows how many of them all competing for an ever reducing amount of money, on top of whatever Sky / Virgin / BT package they might have.

Can’t see a huge market of people willing to add a subscription cost just to watch Euro qualifiers on top of whatever else they’re committed to. This feels very much like a Setanta moment.

[Spudster]

But they wouldn’t have required so many separate subscriptions (ignoring IPTV).

It would have been a mix between Sky Sports and the free to air channels. Then Setanta, BT, Premier Sports, Viaplay were added to the mix

That's the thing. Go back in time until there were fewer channels, it's the same time when there was hardly any games on TV.

[Victor]

Makes paying a licence fee to the BBC even more ludicrous. Having to pay £159.00 a year for something I hardly watch is a bigger scandal.


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[JimBHibees]

Absolutely nothing to do with the SFA. The rights are sold through UEFA's centralised tendering process.

The SFA have apparently had conversations about them being free to air, but who knows.

Fair enough just assume they made their own deal. Think it is terrible English games are shown on STV when Scottish games aren't

[Viva_Palmeiras]

What will ultimately happen when yet more subscriptions are required to watch football is that fans will not just cancel one subscription but just cancel the whole lot and opt for IPTV.

If the game was more accessible and affordable for TV viewing then there wouldn’t be the same demand for the fire sticks and what not. Most fans would be happy to pay something but multiple requirements for subs to deferent channels to access content is out of reach for the average person. Particularly those who support the game by buying Season Tickets to follow their own clubs.

However much money fans plough into their clubs and corporate broadcasters, it’s never enough. Folk will be wising up very soon and that will be to the detriment of the bigger media players.

Aye that little thing called “the cost of living crisis” will make folks more discerning. Netflix are already finding folks voting with their feet.

Ive had enough cancelling NowTV (including a fictional BOOST I didn’t ask for whatever the **** that was) it was like trying to get rid of a social disease. I found it tough to cancel Premier Sports too. Try speaking with a human about that next to impossible. **** them all.

[Victor]

Aye that little thing called “the cost of living crisis” will make folks more discerning. Netflix are already finding folks voting with their feet.

Ive had enough cancelling NowTV (including a fictional BOOST I didn’t ask for whatever the **** that was) it was like trying to get rid of a social disease. I found it tough to cancel Premier Sports too. Try speaking with a human about that next to impossible. **** them all.

I got a discount on my BOOST, still not sure what it is though! Found stopping Premier difficult because had to do it through Virgin, who have the worst waiting times on their helplines. However, all pale into insignificance when it comes to cancelling Beer52!


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[SHODAN]

Yeah, because ITV put the best bid in.

So ITV decided to spend our money putting in an enormous bid for games for one home nation and not the others?

[Moulin Yarns]

So ITV decided to spend our money putting in an enormous bid for games for one home nation and not the others?

Itv don't get any of our money, they get advertisers money and decide how best to spend it. STV on the other hand can choose to opt out of the English football if it wants, it could show Take the High Road instead, but chooses to maximise viewing figures.

[ScottB]

Aye that little thing called “the cost of living crisis” will make folks more discerning. Netflix are already finding folks voting with their feet.

Ive had enough cancelling NowTV (including a fictional BOOST I didn’t ask for whatever the **** that was) it was like trying to get rid of a social disease. I found it tough to cancel Premier Sports too. Try speaking with a human about that next to impossible. **** them all.

Think the ‘Boost’ gives you HD quality

[Tommy75]

Why? If you are so alcohol dependent you can get a few tins of special brew in and watch it in the comfort of your own home.😉

Maybe he/she wants to watch it in the pub so they don't have to subscribe to the channel?