The Scottish Professional Football League announced a new Scottish Premiership TV deal with Sky Sports for five seasons beginning in '20-21, according to Craig Fowler of the SCOTSMAN. The broadcaster will hold exclusive rights for up to 48 Premiership matches, "which is 12 fewer than the current deal." It was one of four new TV contracts announced on Monday, with SPFL CEO Neil Doncaster describing the news as "the largest ever injection of broadcast investment since the SPL was founded over 20 years ago." No figures have yet been released, though the Sky deal is thought to be worth around £30M ($38.5M) per season. It means that "despite being the popular pick with the lion’s share of fans," with one Twitter poll showing over 90% approval, BT Sport will cease broadcasting Scottish football games after the '19-20 season. BT Sport will also lose the Scottish League Cup following that season after Premier Sports, which recently took on coverage of the Scottish Cup along with the BBC, won the rights to screen matches from the other cup competition in a contract that will also run for five seasons. The BBC has had its TV and live radio packages renewed for another five seasons, again starting in '20, as well as 20 live Scottish Championship fixtures per season for '18-19 and '19-20. BBC Alba also agreed to a new contract. It will "continue to screen live matches" from the lower league playoff finals and Irn-Bru Cup for three seasons beginning in '20, along with the "as-live" Scottish Premiership games shown on Saturday evenings (SCOTSMAN, 11/19).
