Highland MP slates poor soccer TV coverage
On the day that a row has erupted between the SPFL and the BBC, North MP, Drew Hendry used a parliamentary debate on the BBC to highlight the “poor coverage on offer” to football fans in Scotland.
The MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey’s comments follow calls by SPFL League chairman Ralph Topping for the BBC to pay a fairer price for Scottish Football rights.
Currently the BBC pays £1.4 million a year for the rights to television and online highlights, along with BBC Scotland’s live coverage of Scottish football games and the league chairman has indicated that this should increase to at least £3 million.
Mr Hendry went further, stating that there were some experts who estimated the actual value of the rights to be in the region of £10 million.
During his speech to the commons on Thursday (Aparil 14) Mr Hendry made reference to the fact that Scottish Football Rights seem to be valued at half the price of Gary Lineker’s BBC salary and then went on to talk about the “blink and you miss it highlights” on offer.
He pointed out that this was “somewhat worse if your favourite team happens to be one from the Highlands - this despite the fact that Ross County and Inverness Caledonian Thistle are both Cup Holding teams.”
He said: “Inverness Caley Thistle fans say it’s even worse for them. Evelyn, a constituent of mine, says ‘If you are a fan of a team in the Highlands, even though the Highlands hold the league and Scottish cups and are well established premiership teams, the level of coverage is beyond poor’.
Following the speech Mr Hendry said: “The BBC are well aware that they undervalue Scottish football rights and are on records saying there has been an ‘inequity’ of service.
“Ralph Topping is quite right to question the attitude of the BBC to Scotland and I think it is vital that we continue to press for a fairer deal for Scotland and to ensure that Highland football fans get a fair share of coverage.”
