Sky's the limit for Scotland's major games

Scottish

Cup.

The contract will run for the next four years, which will allow coverage of Scotland's European Championship qualifying games and, following that, the

next

round of World Cup matches leading up to the finals in 2002. I understand

that

there have been protracted negotiations that have now been completed with the SFA signing one of their richest-ever television agreements.

Last season, the association were criticised for allowing games to be shown on Channel Five, which is not available in large parts of the country. This time, to deflect criticism of a satellite deal, there is to be

terrestrial

involvement too.

Highlights of the games will be available for one of the channels - believed

to

be BBC Scotland - and, of course the Scottish Cup final will be available for

joint live transmission on the two stations.

In that way, the SFA have protected the viewers who do not have Sky, although more and more pubs and clubs are able to show Sky programmes.

The new contract demonstrates the increasing hold that Sky has on sport in Britain. They already have exclusive rights to the Premiership games in

England

and may yet come to a separate deal with Scotland's new breakaway Premier League.

They have already been in talks with the top 10 clubs who are also examining the options offered by digital television. It could yet be that Sky will have the rights to all major Scottish games.

The breakthrough for the company, however, has come with the successful negotiations they have now completed with the SFA commercial manager, Bill Wilson. As always with the SFA, part of the cash windfall - #5m a season -

will

be passed on to the clubs involved in the Scottish Cup competition. Other considerable portions will go to youth development, something that is now considered of paramount importance at Park Gardens.

It is a ground-breaking deal that will attract criticism because of the

limited

audience available to Sky. However, with the probable partnership with BBC Scotland, the SFA have guarded themselves against major complaints from the general public.

Sky, of course, will benefit from the constant appeal of the national team and

the close links it has with the footballing public. One insider revealed last night: ''A formal announcement will be made this week, but both the SFA and Sky are delighted. It is a major, major deal for both parties and it is a massive amount of cash to be ploughed into the game.''

If the breakaway group can pull off a similar coup with Sky - though even more

money would be involved with the number of live games being more - then even greater amounts of cash will be available to the hard-pressed clubs in Scotland.