Rangers and Sky Sports have agreed a TV rights swap deal that will see an extra live match broadcast from Ibrox on the satellite channel during the remainder of the current season.
And it's understood that in return Rangers have received the ability to broadcast two more home games on Pay Per View. The agreement has been fully ratified by the SPFL after similar, less high profile deals have been struck in the past using the same mechanism.
The club already beam out live from every match to the rest of the world but only five Ibrox contests can be shown in the UK as part of the TV deal. The new arrangement means British viewers will now be able to stump up for a further pair of home matches on demand direct from the club.
The deal comes on the back of relationship building behind the scenes between the Rangers hierarchy and Sky, led by CEO James Bisgrove and new commercial director Karim Virani.
While there has been criticism in the past of the quantum involved in the SPFL's TV deal this has never been aimed towards the broadcaster who the club feel are an excellent partner. And despite past animosities, this is one of the seemingly rare occasions in Scottish football when club, governing body and broadcast partner are happy with their lot.
While PPV matches offer a lucrative revenue stream for Rangers to tap into further, there are also other factors at play. With further Thursday night European games still to come in the last 16 of the Europe League and potentially beyond, more Sunday matches are a certainty. That’s a situation that can cause travel difficulties for some supporters and makes offering PPV an appealing option.
Sky are were allowed to broadcast just four times from each ground, meaning that once the two Old Firm games are taken into account they have to be very careful about their choices given the potential need to broadcast a post-split title decider.
One Old Firm game at Ibrox has already been ticked off and the next one will hit screens in early April. Cameras will also be present when Philippe Clement's men face Aberdeen at their home stadium on February 6th.
And now the broadcaster has two more opportunities to consider as the season threatens to be a close-run title race.
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