SPL switches on to Setanta

SETANTA yesterday won the exclusive rights to broadcast live Bank of Scotland Premierleague football for the next four seasons after chairmen of the 12 clubs voted to accept a subscription-driven deal with the Irish satellite company worth £35million.

SPL chairman Lex Gold said after the meeting at Hampden that yesterday was "a good day for Scottish football". However, a contract has yet to be signed for the provision of a highlights package, which means that, as things stand, there will be no top-flight football from Scotland shown on terrestrial television - a certain turn-off for current and potential sponsors. Furthermore, the broadcast deal still falls some way short of the £50million that cash-strapped clubs were anticipating.

Setanta was expected to land the live TV rights yesterday but, with a two-thirds majority required, the vote was a close-run thing after two Premierleague clubs opposed its bid and one abstained. A source close to the SPL confirmed to The Scotsman last night that Celtic and Rangers voted against the proposal - although the Glasgow pair agreed to fully support the move once it was carried - while Eddie Thompson at Dundee United is understood to have abstained.

Cash from the deal will be distributed on the basis of league placings, with the top two clubs each year taking 32 per cent of the total between them. Setanta, which broadcast live coverage of Celtic’s UEFA Cup match against Teplice last night and which already carries select SPL games on its pay-per-view channel, has the rights to show 38 league games in the UK and ten in Eire, to be played at 3pm on Sundays.

There has been speculation recently surrounding the financial footing of Setanta and with the collapse of ITV Digital in 2002, which left many Nationwide League clubs in financial ruin, still fresh in the mind, there have been reservations expressed within the game at yet another pay-per-view scheme for football.

However, Gold denies that the SPL members have taken a gamble and says he has every confidence in their new media partners. "It’s not a gamble," insisted the chairman. "We discussed the ITV Digital scenario for a long time but this isn’t the same - this is company which already has a base in covering Scottish football.

"We’ve looked at their numbers needed to make this fly and the numbers are something like half the subscribers we were looking at for the proposed SPL television deal a few years ago. The numbers needed for that were 200,000 and this is less so the business case stacks up.

"It is a difficult and delicate balance and we don’t want a repetition of what happened elsewhere so that’s why we’re going to treat it in this way. A contingency plan will be part of the long-term agreement that we have with them but that’s not the spirit in which we are entering this. But both sides will be protecting their position."

Also at yesterday’s meeting at the national stadium, BBC Scotland, whose current contract to screen live SPL action runs out in the summer, agreed a four-year deal alongside BBC Radio 5 Live to broadcast games on the radio. The BBC said it had matched Setanta’s bid for exclusive TV rights but that it was rejected by the SPL chairmen. The corporation also confirmed yesterday that it will not be bidding for a highlights package.

The failure to secure a highlights package - Scottish Television and Five are the only other likely candidates and none has so far shown any interest - means that the clubs are being denied some much-needed income. Gold said the league "will move forward with our remaining packages, including highlights over the season", but he added that Setanta’s deal alone would be a welcome boost for SPL clubs’ ailing finances, with the added bonus of encouraging fans to come back through the gates.

"This is a good day for Scottish football," added Gold. "What we are seeking to do is get a financial platform so that clubs can continue to deal with the financial problems that they face. We have now got, for four years, a level of certainty that wasn’t there before and we will be in a sound position going forward.

"At the last board meeting we had some consumer test evidence that we presented to the clubs and that indicated that the current coverage was having an effect on gates. It wasn’t the only impact but that was major. The clubs are looking jointly at how they will encourage more people through the gates and this is part of the package."

Thompson, the Dundee United chairman, agreed that showing so many live games on terrestrial television this season was harming attendance figures at grounds like Tannadice. "I had a lot of questions to ask, as I always do," said Thompson of yesterday’s meeting. "It was mostly about the way it would operate. Now that it is decided, we are 100 per cent behind the deal, which I believe will help boost attendance money from the gate.

"We [Dundee United] have a game here against Rangers on Sunday and there’s still unsold tickets. That’s partly because it’s on a Sunday and partly because people know they can sit at home or sit in the pub and watch it there instead."

Richard Sweeney, chief operating officer of Setanta, which will work on the production in association with Glasgow-based independent media company Wark Clements, said: "We are, of course, incredibly pleased that our offer has been accepted by the chairman and directors of the SPL. We are committed to working with the SPL and the clubs to support the future of the league and we are looking forward to offering the fans a quality service."

Alan Clements, managing director of Wark Clements, added: "We are thrilled with the decision. As a lifelong supporter of Scottish football I am looking forward to working with Setanta and the SPL to provide the best of Scotish football for Scottish fans."

The Premierleague’s director of marketing, Stewart Thomson, also revealed yesterday that the league had agreed a new six-figure, three-year deal with Mitre for the provision of footballs for the SPL.