The Scottish Professional Football League was mocked by its own sponsor, Ladbrokes, on Twitter. Former Celtic player Chris Sutton said that England "are so poor" that he would "rather watch Scotland." Ladbrokes tweeted, "yes it's bad, but is it THAT bad?" Ladbrokes signed a two-year deal with the SPFL ahead of the '15-16 season to become its title sponsor (SCOTSMAN, 10/9).
The Competition & Markets Authority set out the scope of its "wide-ranging investigation" into Rupert Murdoch's £11.7B ($15.4B) takeover bid for Sky. CMA "outlined the main issues for its probe into how the deal would impact media plurality and broadcasting standards" in the U.K. and is inviting submissions for its six-month investigation. It will also look at the Murdoch family's ability to "influence the political agenda" and how that could change after the deal (PA, 10/10).
The "poor" viewing figures for England's 1-0 win over Lithuania were an average of 3.69 million and a peak of 4.98 million. That made it the only match of the 10 qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup -- all covered live on ITV -- for which the ratings sunk below a 4 million average and 5 million peak. An average of 5.07 million watched the 1-0 victory over Slovenia at Wembley last Thursday, with a peak of 6.18 million. By either measurement, "well over a million viewers deserted England" (London DAILY MAIL, 10/9).
