‘I’ve got a guy’. It used to be the kind of line from Trainspotting when some desperado is looking for some kind of illicit hit on a night out or worse.
Now it’s being heard all the time from punters searching for a different kind of fix. A football fix. Call it illegal streaming, piracy, IPTV, a dodgy box or whatever, fans now inevitably know someone who’s got a guy, ready to hook them up to that sweet addictive drug that is the Scottish Premiership. The so-called guys are raking it in left, right and centre as folk decide to bail out on paying the broadcasters top dosh when they can get the same content for shrapnel in comparison.
And even more so, these dealers can even get content delivered right to the couch when they are not even on the actual television. Club TV stations, beamed all across the world but now in the country it comes from, means punters can tune in at 3pm and watch their team no matter where they are playing. SPFL chief Neil Doncaster comes out complaining about the pirates but he’s got more chance of meeting Jack Sparrow than halting this new broadcasting pandemic.
The entire set up that needs to walk the plank. The current TV deal and the way we watch football is not fit for purpose as prohibition just forces people underground. And it doesn’t take Al Capone to work out how to supply the demand. It might have been the rising costs of living or maybe it was covid, but the world has changed for everyone.
Working from home is now the norm, along with hitting a few buttons on your phone to make a double cheeseburger arrive at the door in minutes. It’s the same with our football. Fans were able to buy matches on pay-per-view during the bad old covid days and the deal remained in place last season despite fans being allowed back in, given the uncertainty.
But now we’re back to normal, the PPV is out the window, but unfortunately for the powers that be, the genie can’t be put back in the bottle. Supporters are now used to having the option and the fact it’s now off the table is driving them nuts – and in to the arms of the guys ready to flog their unlicensed products. It’s about time the SPFL – and broadcasters – got on board and came to a solution that works, because this is only going one way.
The Sky deal has been sold as a golden ticket but it doesn’t just lock in 48 games a season – which is ridiculously low, by the way – but it also blocked out the rest being shown. We’ve still got this crazy 3pm blackout rule but the problem is the games not being shown by Sky can’t be broadcast by anyone else in the UK and Ireland. Including the clubs.
There used to be fears selling matches on PPV would damage crowds but last season sunk that myth. Sure, there might have been a post-pandemic spike, but in the main, the folk who want to go to games will go. The ones who want to watch will watch – either by paying for it or by illegally streaming.
Former Motherwell media man Grant Russell admits it isn’t working. He was on social media recently highlighting the problem of clubs basically handing potential incomes to the dodgy box dealers. He said: “No secondary rights in the UK means people who could be giving money to clubs are giving it to IPTV providers.
“The game is powerless to stop it – unless it helps itself by selling these games. “It’s not enough anymore to say streaming games affects crowds. It’s not enough anymore to let our secondary rights be locked in a box.
“Let’s use the data available, paired with the huge interest in our game, and be progressive. No fan should be stopped from seeing a match.
“All games are viewable and sellable abroad. The productions and platforms exist. “We just don’t have the rights to use them in the UK and Ireland anymore. It needs to change. The key barrier is that the Sky deal isn’t for the rights to 48 games. It’s for all 230 including the play-off final.
“The deal also stops the selling of secondary rights to any of the other 182 games. This is why Ross County couldn’t just move the kick-off against Celtic at the weekend to 12.30pm and broadcast on club PPV.”
The SPFL is handcuffed for another couple of seasons but they need to read the writing on the wall. A deal with Sky is the top option. Keeping Scottish football on the Sky Sports News cycle is every bit as important as the live games.
But there has to be a wider approach and clubs need to make sure they can sell games on a weekly basis, as well as virtual season tickets alongside traditional ones.
The games are already being televised by all the clubs and we’ve seen how easy it is. A lot of punters will stump up a tenner to tune in rather than take their chances with a jumpy feed and while you might still have a chunk who’ll take the cheaper option, it’s almost free money with the ones who go legit.
Russell said: “The new cycle in 2025 isn’t miles away. It’s important for the progression of Scottish top flight football that we look to unlock the ability for a secondary rights market and we look at how we monetise those secondary rights.
“Doing so should preserve the vital Sky money but also provide a route to other revenues for clubs.”
Plenty of people are hooked on Scottish football, it’s time our clubs became the suppliers rather than some guy.
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