Live broadcasts of English Premier League games at 3pm on Saturday afternoon must not be shown north of the Border for the sake of the Scottish game, an MP is to warn.

 

Dunfermline & West Fife MP Thomas Docherty will demand that the media regulator, Ofcom, rule out any proposal to show the matches live in Scotland.

Mr Docherty will warn such move would hurt Scottish clubs as well as those in the lower leagues in the rest of the UK.

Ofcom is currently investigating whether more Premier League matches could be shown live.

Mr Docherty will use a debate in Westminster Hall, a parallel debating chamber to the House of Commons, to make his call.

He said: "Supporters groups and clubs right across the UK are concerned by any suggestion that Premier League games could be shown live anywhere at 3pm on Saturdays. Many fans in Scotland have a "second" team in the Premier League in England. It would be disastrous for Scottish clubs if fans were to watch live games on TV rather supporting their own clubs through the turnstiles.

"The English FA has already objected to the idea of showing live games in England, I hope that the SFA do the same on behalf of the Scottish game."

The Premier League is due to begin the formal bidding process for the next collection of rights from next year onwards.

However, Virgin Media argues that the collective selling of the rights by the Premier under the current process breaks competition law.

Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media's chief executive said in November that it fans in the UK pay the highest prices in Europe to "watch the least amount of football on TV." He said it was right that Ofcom should look at how the rights are sold.