Premier Sports and BBC Scotland have renewed their broadcasting agreements with the Scottish Football Association, extending their coverage of the Scottish Cup until the end of the 2028-29 season.
The new five-year deals will see both broadcasters continue to showcase soccer's prestigious Scottish Cup matches. The Irish-based pay-TV broadcaster, Premier Sports, has been airing the competition for six seasons now. Under this agreement, its rights will remain largely unchanged but with an added third match in rounds four and five of the knockout cup competition.
BBC Scotland will also maintain its live free-to-air coverage of one game from each round up to and including the final. Additionally, it will provide highlights on its Sportscene programs. The contract allows BBC Scotland to produce "near live digital highlights" as well as secure rights to broadcast the Scottish FA Youth Cup Final. Both broadcasters are set to simultaneously air the final match.
The recent 2024 Scottish Cup final of Old Firm rivals Celtic vs Rangers attracted a peak live audience of 735,000 on BBC Scotland alone. The thrilling match saw holders Celtic clinch a late 1-0 win over Rangers.
Ian Maxwell, the Scottish FA’s chief executive, said:
“In an era of multiple subscription platforms across football and life in general, we’re pleased to be able to offer consistency with established partners who take pride in their involvement in our showpiece competition.
“It represents stable income for our member clubs and the wider Scottish game that allows the various stakeholders to plan ahead with an added degree of certainty.”
Premier Sports' continued commitment to SPFL
This renewal follows closely behind Premier Sports’ agreement earlier in the week with SPFL (Scottish Professional Football League) that ensures continued coverage of top-tier Scotland Premiership matches for another five seasons starting from 2024-25 campaign.
Under this extension deal, Premier sports secured exclusive rights for broadcasting 20 live Premiership matches each season. This adds onto their existing portfolio which includes domestic Premier Sports Cup (which they title-sponsor) and home soccer internationals by Scotland national team.
In addition, at year-end last year, after Viaplay Group's divestment from the UK, Premier Sports reacquired its UK business, reclaiming its sports channels and associated rights.
Sky record significant increase in SPFL viewership
Meanwhile, Sky, the primary SPFL rightsholder in the UK, reported a significant increase in viewership for matches this season. Nearly 2.5 million extra viewers tuned into their broadcasts compared to last season.
The broadcaster saw a year-on-year rise of 24% for peak audiences from games in the Premiership during the 2023-24 season. A total cumulative audience of 12.5 million watched SPFL games on Sky compared to just over 10 million during the previous season.
Viewership reached an all-time high with April’s thrilling 3-3 draw between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox setting a new record for most-watched match since SPFL was formed in 2013.
