The Scottish Professional Football League is "celebrating a new deal with the BBC" that is worth £10.6M ($15.4M) over four years, according to Keith Jackson of the Scotland DAILY RECORD. League bosses have "secured an improved contract with the national broadcaster that is nearly double the previous amount." The deal will also "give audiences better coverage -- with more cameras at matches." Until now, all non-live TV matches "have been covered by two STV cameras." As part of the increased deal, "the league must now undertake to provide at least four or five cameras at these games as part of a process which will be phased in over the next year." The BBC insists this will provide its "much criticised flagship show, Sportscene with greatly enhanced highlights packages as well as the ability to cover these games more extensively." BBC officials intend to "continue to air Sportscene on Sunday nights in order to include as many SPFL matches as possible but do have the option to move the show to earlier in the evening" than the current 10:30pm slot. The previous rights deal was worth £6.2M ($9M) over four years. The new agreement will see the BBC "fork out a total" of £10.6M over the same period. The new deal "follows repeated criticism of the original BBC contract" from figures such as SPFL Chair Ralph Topping. He had "blasted the national broadcaster and accused them" of "short-changing" Scottish football (DAILY RECORD, 5/5). The agreement means that BBC Sport Scotland will continue to provide TV and online highlights and live radio commentaries of Scottish Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two matches from the '16-17 season. SPFL CEO Neil Doncaster said, "During the process of negotiating with the BBC, the SPFL board has been very robust and clear in its view of what we believe Scottish football coverage is worth and we are pleased that this has been taken on board and reflected by an improved agreement. The new BBC contract was approved by Scottish Premiership clubs and the SPFL board (BBC).
BADMINTON HORSE TRIALS: BBC Sport has agreed to a new deal to extend its coverage of the Badminton Horse Trials up until '20. The four-year deal gives the BBC live network coverage of the Sunday events, including the live show-jumping finale. It will also have Red Button output of the Saturday's Cross Country events (BBC).
