Scottish rugby administrators are preparing to work with their Celtic counterparts to secure improved television deals.

Scottish rugby administrators are preparing to work with their Celtic counterparts to secure improved television deals in future as a consequence of the failure to ensure that one of Scotland's greatest victories could be watched by supporters back home.

Gordon McKie, chief executive of the Scottish Rugby Union, has launched a fresh broadside at broadcasters after his organisation's abortive efforts to ensure that this month's crucial Test meetings with Argentina were screened.

While he accepts there were special circumstances at play, he believes the lack of serious interest from, in particular, BBC Scotland highlights a major problem when it comes to its public service obligations.

"I think it is disgraceful that these matches were not shown in Scotland," said McKie. "The first half of the second Test was one of the best performances I've seen by Scotland and yet very few have seen it.

"Part of the problem, in this instance, is that the rights are controlled by the Argentinian federation, just as we the SRU would control them if the game was at Murrayfield. I can't force Argentina to sell the rights to a broadcaster who does not make an appropriate offer."

He admitted: "Argentina put a value on the matches that was much higher than we believed it should be, but some UK broadcasters have a public duty to put in a serious offer to show these matches and that did not happen either. It was a bit of both factors that was to blame for the match not being shown."

The failure to show one Test series may not, in itself, be a heinous offence, but the fact that only those prepared to pay to watch the match on an obscure internet site saw their side win over the third-best country in the world has highlighted an issue of major national concern.

In contrast to the free-spending BBC network that has a cast of thousands spending millions of pounds of licence-payers money on the European Football Championships, for which no British team qualified, BBC Scotland seems to focus almost all of its spend on a single sport.

No-one would dispute football's importance as the national sport. However, starving other sports of the oxygen of publicity makes claims that too few people are interested in them to make coverage worthwhile a self-fulfilling prophecy, such is the importance of television.

"Other sports feel they have the same problem," McKie noted. "As I understand it, Cricket Scotland cannot find a broadcaster for the Scotland v England one-day international match that is clearly a very attractive proposition later in the summer. I'm sure other sports feel the same, whereas we get this glut of football all year round."

There has been a perception in the past among supposedly minority sports that BBC Scotland has deliberately snubbed them when they have dared to speak out, but the climate is changing. That is allowing administrators like McKie to feel more confident about pointing out their public service duty at a time when there is a renewed emphasis on matters like getting children active to promote sport for all and healthier lifestyles.

Consequently, the SRU is co-operating fully with the review of Scottish broadcasting commissioned by Alex Salmond, the First Minister. In the short term, though, McKie is prepared to flex what muscle rugby has to seek a better deal. There is greater leverage available to rugby than to other sports because of the London-based networks' interest in domestic rugby.

For many years, the SRU has failed to act on advice to tie in deals relating to the RBS 6 Nations to a commitment to domestic coverage. McKie has recognised that and, with most of the broadcast deals due for renewal over the next year, he is ready to make those links, while working with the Irish and Welsh rugby unions on a more integrated package.

"The trend for interest in rugby generally is growing, particularly at the high performance level where demand is starting to outstrip supply," he said. "We've never had a coherent and robust broadcast strategy and have been led by the hand a bit. Deals tend to have been done in piecemeal fashion. This time, we are clearer about what we are trying to do.

"There is an underlying collaborative agreement among the Celtic unions and while five years ago when the original Celtic Accord was drawn up they were all under very different administrations, this time there is a willingness on the part of the three unions to work together. We have been having regular meetings to discuss how best to take this forward."

A major priority for the SRU has to be upping the profile of the increasingly-attractive Magners League, since Setanta has broadcast games involving Scottish teams live over the last couple of seasons, but a complete lack of promotional support by such a niche broadcaster has minimised the impact of that coverage.

McKie admitted that had become a priority for Irish and Welsh officials, too. "There is a realisation that we need to do something about the Celtic League, because if not we will fall further behind the Guinness Premiership," he said. "That is a major challenge for the next 12 months."

The great frustration for all involved in Celtic rugby is that, as Munster have proved by winning the Heineken Cup twice in the last three years while the Ospreys won the less prestigious Anglo-Welsh Cup, the quality of rugby is at least the equivalent of that in England and France.

Failure to recognise that implies institutional prejudice against either the sport by local broadcasters or against the respective countries by London-based networks, and McKie seems set to champion what is an overdue bid to expose that.