WILL CLARK: Scotland matches need to be free for everyone to watch
DID you watch the Scotland v Cyprus match on Saturday? I didn’t.
I don’t have Sky, or BT Sport, never mind this new Viaplay subscription channel which has won the broadcasting rights for all Scotland matches for the forseeable future.
However, I managed to watch both England matches against Italy on Thursday and Ukraine on Sunday on Channel 4.
I even managed to watch Croatia v Wales on Saturday on S4C. Albeit it was in Welsh and on their YouTube channel.
But still, the option was there for Welsh fans to be able to watch their national team for free.
Whereas the only option to watch Scotland play live is to pay £14.99 a month.
I’m too tight to pay for a subscription for a television channel.
But I have argued before that games involving the national team should be protected and be available for everyone to view.
The Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events is a series of regulations issued originally by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) then by Ofcom when the latter assumed most of the ITC’s responsibilities in 2003, which is designed to protect the availability of coverage of major sporting occasions on free-to-air terrestrial television in the United Kingdom.
Certain sporting events are listed as Category A which must have live coverage made available to free-to-air channels, although pay television networks may share live coverage.
Football events include the World Cup, Women’s World Cup and the European Championship where all matches must be broadcast live.
But international matches in qualification stages and friendlies do not have to be free to air.
I believe that all matches involving the national team are of national significance and should be free to air.
Although, the regulations that are in place allow these matches to go to the highest bidder.
My grievance is Channel 4 found the money to be the highest bidder to broadcast all England’s matches live, where was the effort to win the rights to broadcast Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland matches?
S4C secured exclusive UK free-to-air broadcast rights to show the Wales football team’s matches from 2022 to 2024 including UEFA Nations League campaign and the European Qualifiers campaign for UEFA EURO 2024.
The channel’s chief executive Sian Doyle, said that “The relationship between S4C, Cymru and the fans is key to our language.
“It is an integral part of the channel, because there is such an opportunity to bring a new audience to the channel by having sport.
“We know that it is a key part of Welsh culture.”
Would it be possible for BBC Alba to show Scotland matches even if they were only in Gaelic?
The channel has done a great job in bringing women’s football and sport to a larger audience.
I want to see more of an effort of bringing Scotland men’s games to a larger audience.
I was going to listen to the Scotland against Spain match on Tuesday night on the radio, but I was dragged out to the pub thankfully.
Hopefully in the future, matches such as these will be available to a wider audience rather than paying at the pub or through the pocket to watch on subscription television.