AND the Murdochs go marching on, on, on. The deal which Scotland's Premier Division sides have reached with Mr Rupert Murdoch's Sky satellite channel is undoubtedly a good one for the clubs since it will earn them #45m a year, a record for live broadcasting rights. Sky obviously feels it is a price worth paying. But the agreement will inevitably strengthen its influence over the game. Anyone who doubts the emergence of a trend which we believe to be insidious needs look no further than the fact that the 30 live games to be screened each season will be played at five past six on Sunday evenings.
Rangers chairman David Murray maintains that the deal is in the best interests of the regular paying supporter but Sky's insistence on such a kick-off time and day patently is not in the ordinary fan's interests. These fans, the vast majority of whom are season ticket holders facing ever dearer prices for watching their teams, will have no option but to make that commitment on a day which, even in a secular age, remains one normally spent with the family. That will change, for the worse.
We also question whether the deal will be good for the armchair fan. Mr Murdoch's effective monopoly over live TV football will make it all the easier to insist on a pay-to-view scheme which will take the sport alienatingly far from the people and their game.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article