SCOTLAND'S armchair football fans will not be prevented from seeing their country's first two World Cup matches live even if striking technicians go ahead with a threatened blackout of the BBC's coverage.
Technicians' union Bectu has warned it would step up its action against the BBC by asking French broadcasting unions to boycott the corporation's transmission of crucial games involving Scotland and England if talks at arbitration service Acas fail today.
However, Scottish channels - including Scottish TV - will cover Scotland's first two games against Brazil and Norway live and would not be affected if the plug is pulled for the games on BBC.
A Scottish Television spokeswoman said: ''We are taking our coverage from the ITV feed so it should not affect us at all. We will be broadcasting the Scotland versus Brazil match as planned and we don't expect any problems whatsoever.''
The third Scotland match against Morocco is scheduled live by the BBC, but highlights are still due to be transmitted by ITV. It is understood BBC bosses are now drawing up secret contingency plans to try to save transmission of the matches, including England games. The strikers brought most of BBC radio and television live programmes to a halt yesterday morning during a 24-hour stoppage over re-organisation plans.
Talks will resume at the arbitration service Acas today to try to avert a second one-day strike on Tuesday - the day before the first World Cup match between Scotland and Brazil.
If talks fail, Bectu, the union representing the striking cameramen and technicians, will announce further stoppages from June 16 - date set for the Scotland-Norway match. Royal Ascot and Wimbledon could also be hit.
The union, which claims re-organisation plans could result in the service being privatised by stealth, claims to have the support of 100 Labour MPs. Officials will lobby Parliament on Tuesday.
The union claims 15,000 staff, including journalists and non-union colleagues, stopped work during the initial action. BBC Scotland's live breakfast radio news, and lunchtime and evening news programmes were off the air.
The flagship Today programme on Radio 4, BBC 1's Breakfast News and television news bulletins were also hit. However, main news bulletins and Question Time were being broadcast, with managers and freelances operating cameras. The first Test match between England and South Africa was transmitted from Edgbaston using freelances.
Mark Leishman, head of corporate affairs at BBC Scotland, said: ''It is disappointing that licence fee payers - our viewers and listeners - have suffered disruption.''
Leader of Bectu in Scotland, Paul McManus, said that while it was not specifically targeting the World Cup coverage by the BBC, no firm decision had yet been made.
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