SPFL TV deal: Rangers reveal the 4 possible alternatives to Sky Sports

Rangers chief James Bisgrove believes the SPFL have missed a big trick in not taking the broadcast rights out to tender with four possible alternatives to Sky Sports.

The SPFL announced a four-year extension to the agreement with Sky Sports earlier this week which could see the value of the TV deal reach around £30million per season by the 2028/29 season, excluding the addition of two bundles of ten games with £4million each.

Rangers have been vocal in raising their concerns with the way the deal has been handled.

Managing director Stewart Robertson expressed his frustration at the lack of “market-test”.

His colleague Bisgrove, the club’s commercial director, explained to Rangers Review that while they recognise the strength of the partnership with Sky Sports there were other options to consider with the aim of getting more value from the new TV deal.

Bisgrove outlined four potential broadcasters who may have challenged Sky Sports for the rights.

He said: "Stewart and I were in the SPFL Premiership clubs meeting and asked how can we, as a group of clubs, as a league, be sure that this is the best value in the market when we haven’t engaged with the other players in that market?

"The information and the intelligence that we got suggests that very recently other big rights that were in the market had created competitive tension.

Rangers commercial director James Bisgroved. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

"You’ve got BT Sport and their joint venture with Discovery, you’ve got Viaplay and NENT, you’ve got DAZN.

"And there are others further afield, the likes of Amazon.

"We’ve said all along we think Sky are a great partner, they’re a brilliant partner for Scottish football but to give everyone assurance that the value is as high as it possibly can be, you’ve got to take this to the market.

"There's a reason why TEAM Marketing that run the UEFA Champions League, Europa League tenders, go to the market every time.

"They run a competitive process, it’s the reason why the Premier League do that."

Aspects of the new agreement begin with immediate effect, such as clubs being able to stream up to five home games per season and the addition of live coverage of the SWPL.

The increase in games Sky can show, from 48 to 60, begins from the 2024/25 campaign.