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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Aidan Smith

Scottish Football Supporters Association blasts new Viaplay TV deal and calls out England contract 'unfairness'

Scottish Football Supporters Association blasts new Viaplay TV deal and calls out England contract 'unfairness'

SCOTLAND'S national independent fans organisation, the SFSA, has called for all international matches to be freely available to all fans.

It follows the announcement on Wednesday that Scotland's World Cup and Euro qualifiers will be broadcast exclusively on Nordic subscription service Viaplay from 2024 to 2028.

The Scottish Football Supporters Association say they have noted the broadcast announcement as Sky Sports' current pay-per-view deal ended.

In England, fans will continue to watch their national team effectively for free with Channel 4 reportedly having outbid ITV for the rights to games.

Scottish fans have voiced their displeasure on social media and aimed their frustration toward the Scottish Football Association, despite media rights being sold by UEFA.

The SFA have announced the new deal positively stating that the guaranteed income would be reinvested throughout all levels of the game.

Viaplay bid the most for the rights to broadcast Scotland's outbidding Sky and Scottish terrestrial broadcasting companies, Scottish Television and BBC Scotland.

Andy Smith, chair of the Scottish Football Supporters Association commented: “This is just wrong and bad news for all Scottish fans. It is really annoying to see England free on STV when watching Scotland costs us all.

"The SFA are not at fault here and indeed I hope the substantial revenues from the deal will be announced openly and channelled into the grassroots of our game where investment is much needed and long overdue.

"But it is unfair that we have to shell out again and the obvious question we want answers to is, how do TV broadcasters in England value the English team so much higher than those in Scotland?

"Maybe the fact that in England there is a DCMS, (Department of Culture Media and Sport) and in Scotland that doesn’t exist.

"Maybe we should ask the Scottish Government to create a Barnet Type formula for this kind of borderline unfairness?"

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