Scottish Magners League games to be shown by BBC Alba

THE long wait for a firm commitment from a native broadcaster to screen live Scottish Magners League matches is over. Gaelic television channel BBC Alba has committed to a four-year deal to show at least eight home games per season from the start of the 2010-11 campaign.

The deal also allows the channel to access Irish and Welsh public broadcasters' footage to show as many live away games as "money or scheduling permits".

Rugby fans will be able to watch matches on Sky, Freesat and BBC iplayer. At present the channel is not available to Virgin Media subscribers or to those with Freeview.

This deal is bound to prompt questions about why no English speaking channels have taken up the reins, but Alan Esslemont, head of content for BBC Alba, says that non-Gaelic speakers should not be put off by the fact that they won't be able to understand the commentary.

BBC Scotland has remained wholly resistant to showing anything below international rugby on television, and STV has only dipped its toe into the Magners League pond intermittently.

"I believe that Scottish audiences will come to Scottish content. We know that the majority of our audience will not have Gaelic and we have catered for that," he said.

"Yes, we have Gaelic commentary; and yes, we are here to serve a Gaelic audience. But what we also have throughout the Gaelic commentary is expert analysis in English from the sidelines, provided by someone who is clearly identified nationally as qualified to give an insight into the game.

"Then, at half-time, we are going to go straight into a very quick analysis of the action, before using most of that period to provide packages of interest for Scottish audiences – dealing with the stars and stories of both the Magners League and the club game, and also stories about the development of Scottish rugby beyond its heartland.

"So, week-in and week-out, you will have packages delivered mainly in English because a lot of interviews will be in English, or with English subtitles."

He added: "We have found that this model has been very, very popular with football audiences in Scotland. We do the SPL at a level below Celtic and Rangers, going from Motherwell to Aberdeen, giving the kind of coverage those teams had not been getting previously.

"Part of the reason people have come to us then stayed with us is because they know that, as well as the live game, they will get the background stories."