LIKE it, or loathe it, Scottish football is now lumped (or blessed, depending on your viewpoint) with a fresh broadcasting deal with Sky that will run until 2029.

Since the extension of the TV contract was confirmed back in September of last year, ultimately being voted through by 41 of the 42 SPFL clubs, the £150m deal has provoked debate around both the timing and the detail of it.

But within the broadcasting industry and from many within the game too, there is now a shift towards a focus on the future, and what can be done to ensure that when the new deal does expire, Scottish football can create some competitive pressure in order to get the best value from their broadcast deal.

Critics of the latest deal argue that not only did the SPFL leave money on the table by not conducting a full tender process before agreeing terms with Sky, but that their reliance on broadcasting companies is also preventing them from bartering for better terms.

READ MORE: SPFL accused of leaving £20m on table by not taking TV deal to tender

Grant Russell, former head of media at Motherwell and a vocal critic of the broadcast deal, fears that the SPFL are falling behind other leagues by failing to investigate the viability of their own OTT [over the top] platform.

He says that the threat of an in-house subscription-based streaming service, for example, could apply some competitive pressure on traditional broadcasters like Sky, but that the league simply hadn’t bothered trying to find out if the appetite for such a service is out there during his tenure at Fir Park.

“At club level, there weren’t a lot of voices – though we were one of them – who were saying that we had to look at what Scottish football was as a viable product for the future,” Russell said.

“Are we always going to be partnering with broadcasters? Or are we going to have to look to an OTT model in the not-too-distant future? What does the market look like?

“The Covid pandemic was the perfect time to really sort it out, because we all had PPV. The numbers weren’t great, but the league - for some reason - refused to promote our services.

“No one put forward a business case for it to project how many subscribers they might get, or what risk we would be taking in going down that route. It was never discussed and never put on the table. The broadcast market was subsequently the only player in town.

“We just didn’t do the leg work to see if there was an alternative model, one we made ourselves.”

If that work isn’t now done, Russell is concerned that the way the market landscape is shifting will see the SPFL in an even weaker position when the next rights cycle rolls around.

“If we don’t do this now, what will the landscape look like in 2029?” he said.

“Might Sky even not be at the table then? Or offer less money?

“What if Sky’s attitude changes? What if the landscape has shifted so much that Sky is no longer interested?

“The latest deal is done. We can cry about it all we want, but it’s done. What are we going to do though for the next seven years so that when it comes to 2029 we are in a position to get the best opportunity?

“I don’t see any evidence that that conversation is going on. In 2029, we should have an OTT model ready to go.

“Instead, we’ve had a collective patting of everyone’s backs by getting more money out of Sky. Yes, but we’ve just put another plaster on this leak that is just continually getting worse.

“I might be wrong and someone else might come along who wants to spend a lot of money on Scottish football, but if you look at the data and are trying to predict what might happen, then it’s certainly pointing a lot more in favour of what people like me are saying.

“Because it’s now six and a half years away, we have that opportunity to try to plan for 2029. What is the model? We need to go at this with the same ferocity, will and passion that we do debates over league reconstruction or whatever else.

“Someone has to ask, what will Scottish football look like in 2029?”

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Dr Dan Plumley, a football finance expert and principal lecturer on Sport Finance at Sheffield Hallam University, says that best value in any future deal can be gained by investigating an integrated model including both a traditional broadcast partner and OTT services such as pay-per-view.

“I think the answer to that is definitely yes,” Plumley said. “We know the way the industry is going, and that OTT broadcasting has a big role to play.

“We perhaps don’t know what that looks like yet, but it’s certainly something that leagues are exploring, that clubs are looking at, and we know it is going to be important in the market.

“It has the potential though as well to benefit the clubs from a revenue perspective, so I would certainly suggest that any league across any sport that is looking for growth in broadcasting should be looking at OTT broadcasting in the future.

“What the challenge for Scottish football over the next six years that the deal is now in place, is how they keep the value of that contract there or thereabouts, but also how do you increase it, so that when you come to renegotiations you can go for a bigger and better offer.

“It might be that Sky are still involved, but Sky plus others would be the way I would be looking at it, and I’m sure the clubs are suggesting that as well.”