With a four-game limit imposed on all grounds and three live games already screened from Leith this season in the cinch Premiership, the broadcaster has instead chosen to keep their powder dry when it comes to visiting the home of Hibs, preferring to wait in case a post-split meeting with Celtic coincides with the day Ange Postecoglou’s title favourites wrap up the league.

That decision, given the constraints, is understandable, but it feeds into a narrative where Scottish football is distilled down to two clubs, with the others simply there to make up the numbers as far as the broadcasters are concerned.

With Sky choosing to sit out a second successive Edinburgh derby league clash – they also shunned the festive head-to-head at Tynecastle – it is understood that Hibs are looking to use one of their pay-per-view jokers, provided both Hearts and Police Scotland agree and approve a switch of kick-off time, as current rules prohibit games from being televised between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday.

The decision by Sky Sports not to broadcast Hibs v Hearts next month was met by disdain from capital football fans.

As part of the latest television deal, which was agreed last year, clubs have an allocated five-game PPV option, which was brought in as a way for members to capitalise on high-profile or sell-out fixtures which had been snubbed by Sky. That was a positive and allowed a degree of flexibility. But, it comes at a cost for fans. Many are already season ticket holders, who also have a Sky subscription but, because the broadcaster is so enamoured by Celtic and Rangers and air a high proportion of their away games plus all the Old Firm fixtures, it is the supporters of other clubs who tend to be the one’s shelling-out again on the game-by-game basis.

The clubs themselves have to accept some of the blame for that, having ratified the latest deal. Yet there remains justified frustration with the broadcaster. Only six of the 35 games already aired or due to be shown up to April 16 have featured two teams outwith Celtic or Rangers. That number could and should be higher.

The SPFL struck the current deal with Sky to become the sole broadcaster and that deal was for up to 48 top-flight leagues games each season. For the third term in a row, though, they are likely to come up short. So, while it wouldn’t help in the case of the derby, there is scope to give other teams more airtime, they simply choose not to. For them, it is all about Celtic and Rangers. It is where the worldwide viewing figures are, but it is galling for others.

Speaking before the blackout of last month’s Hearts v Rangers match, it was the Rangers boss Michael Beale who spoke out about the opportunities being lost to promote the whole game. “At this moment in time, Scottish football is really colourful,” he said. “We’ve got players coming in from outside, whether that’s from down south, or from Asia and one or two from around Europe. The league’s in a really good place, so we should focus on the football. It was disappointing that the game wasn’t on TV.”

The league clash between the two clubs in January was also not selected for broadcast.

Now he knows how other teams feel. It was only on Tuesday that former Hearts and Scotland boss Craig Levein, speaking in the Daily Record, said he would volunteer to drive the Old Firm south himself if the EPL opened their doors to the dominating forces in Scottish football. But there was a telling caveat: he wants the duo to send an annual stipend of £50m north to help grow the rest of Scottish football.

They will argue that they already subsidise the game and they are the main attraction when it comes to television deals, marketing and sponsorship. But there is already resistance from the pair when it comes to an equitable split of cash and power. The league payments prove that, as does the voting structure that allows them to control the way the game is shaped.

The imbalance is exacerbated by TV companies who treat everyone outwith the top two as a nuisance. They will argue that things will improve from season 2024/25, when they will be permitted to visit each ground five times. That grants them greater scope, while the terms of the deal state that a minimum of 42 games must be shown. There is no doubt that the Old Firm will continue to feature heavily but others will have to be promoted too, and not only in lop-sided displays that do little to enhance the reputation of Scottish football as a whole or the majority of clubs in the league.

Right now, when it comes to the wider audience, the clubs who are given a platform only get it when playing either the Parkhead or Ibrox sides and are understandably, given the financial chasm, denied the opportunity to put their best foot forward as the big two romp to one victory after another.

Under the current TV deal, the Sky Sports cameras are only permitted to visit a stadium four times in a season.

There is no escaping the fact that Celtic and Rangers’ wider audiences are the lure for Sky when they are agreeing £25-30million pound packages with the SPFL. And there is no doubting that the other clubs benefit from that financially but we are damaging the reputation of the overall product.

As it stands, Rangers have lost just two league games and dropped points in a further four but only three of the slip ups were to teams outwith Celtic and they have sacrificed just two points in a draw with Celtic since Beale took charge. That draw is Celtic’s only blemish beyond the early season loss to St Mirren. In the other televised games, they have regularly put three, four, five or more past opponents.

Great fun for the Celtic fans tuning in around the world – but it does little to showcase the rest of the league.

Hibs v Hearts kick-off time could still change as Sky snub for second time in row exposes wider TV deal issues