What’s new?
Virgin Media, BT Vision, Top Up TV and TalkTalk could be forced to raise their prices for Sky Sports channels in 2013.
The Competition Commission’s Appeals Tribunal has reversed a ruling made by media regulator Ofcom in 2010 which forced Sky to cut its wholesale rates for Sky Sports by almost a quarter.
Sky’s competitors are likely to challenge the latest decision, but if they fail, they’re likely to face a steep rise in the price they pay for the Sky Sports channels, which will probably be passed on to viewers.
The price rises are likely to come into effect as each broadcaster renegotiates its deals with Sky over the coming year.
August 8, 2012
The Scottish Premier League has launched its own YouTube channel just days after the start of the 2012/2013 football season.
The splofficial channel will screen highlights from every Clydesdale Bank Premier League fixture, plus player and manager reactions and exclusive insider features.
August 8, 2012
The new season of Scottish Premier League football kicked off on August 4, so here at Recombu Digital we’ve compiled a guide to who’s showing what, and how much it costs.
Who has the rights to the 2012/2013 Scottish Premier League matches?
The Clydesdale Bank Premier League and Irn Bru Scottish Football League are split until 2017 year between ESPN and Sky.
Sky will show 30 live matches per season, including five live Rangers games from the SFL Third Division, and ESPN will show another 30, plus 10 Rangers fixtures.
Why can’t I watch matches with a 3pm kick-off?
As with English football, the Scottish FA imposes a live TV blackout on the traditional 3pm Saturday kick-off to encourage attendance at live matches. However, BBC Alba replays a 3pm game in full from 6pm every Saturday.
How can I find out which games are on Sky or ESPN?
The Clydesdale BankPremier League hosts a list of which fixtures are on ESPN or Sky at www.scotprem.com/content/default.asp?page=home_Fixtures.
Can I watch the Scottish Premier League in HD or 3D?
Sky Sports and ESPN show all of their games in high definition, which can be seen on Sky and Virgin Media.
Sky viewers will need a £10.25/month HD subscription to watch high definition on any channel, Virgin charges £7/month extra for Sky’s premium HD channels, but ESPN HD is free.
Neither Sky nor EPSN currently shows any SPL games in 3D.
How can I watch the Scottish Premier League on Sky?
For the full season of games, you’ll need a Sky Sports subscription and a bolt-on ESPN subscription.
Sky Sports 1 or 2 cost £13/month each on top of a £21.50/month Entertainment pack (total £34.50/month), or £21.50/month for both sports channels (£43/month).
The six-channel Sky Sports pack costs £21/month plus the Entertainment pack (£42.50/month), and includes the dedicated Sky Sports F1 channel as well as five general Sky Sports channels.
The complete Sky World package, with Sports, Movies, HD and 3D, costs £65.75/month.
ESPN costs £10/month with the Sky Sports pack, but the first three months are free. It costs £13/month on its own.
How can I watch the Scottish Premier League on Virgin Media?
Virgin Media buys the Sky channels wholesale and sets its own prices, but you’ll need to start with the Virgin TV M+ package from £7/month. ESPN is only available with the top-tier Virgin TV XL package at £26.50/month, but it’s in HD.
The Sky Sports channels add £15.50/month each for Sky Sports 1 or 2, £25.75/month for Sky Sports 1 to 4 and F1, or £32.75/month with Sky Movies. It’s an extra £7/month to upgrade all your Sky premium channels to HD.
So if you want Sky Sports with Virgin Media, it’ll cost £59.75/month, or £66.25 with Sky Movies.
How can I watch the Scottish Premier League on TalkTalk TV?
Broadband provider TalkTalk now offers its own TV service, based on YouView, with a free Huawei YouView box for subscribers.
There’s no need for a basic subscription, but you need to have TalkTalk broadband and line rental. The cheapest deal for this is TalkTalk Plus with advance line rental, at £24/month.
A Sky Sports package of Sky Sports 1-4, plus F1, costs £30/month, and ESPN costs £10/month, but it’s the full version, not the limited Freeview version carried on Top-Up TV and BT Vision.
There’s also a full bundle of Sky Movies, Sky Sports and ESPN for £45/month.
How can I watch the Scottish Premier League on Freeview with Top-Up TV?
Top-Up TV carries both Sky Sports 1 and 2, and a special version of ESPN, which you can receive using the TUTV T215 set-top box for £49.99, plus a monthly subscription which gives you a viewing card.
All Freeview digital TVs have a CI slot (usually on the left hand side), and you can buy a Top-Up TV CI+ CAM adapter for £49.99 – or it’s free with any two-channel combination of sports channels. There’s also a £20 connection fee for any new subscriber.
Subscriptions are on a rolling monthly contract, with no long-term commitment, and start at £10.99/month for ESPN. Sky Sports 1 costs £24.99/month, or £32.99/month with ESPN. Both Sky Sports channels cost £33.99/month, but you’ll have to add ESPN separately.
The ESPN channel on Top-Up TV is only available from 2pm-4am from Monday to Friday, 11am-6am on Saturdays, and 11am-4am on Sundays.
How can I watch the Scottish Premier League on BT Vision?
BT Vision boxes are fitted with a slot for a viewing card for Sky Sports 1 and 2, or ESPN. The viewing card costs £10 and the BT Vision box is free to subscribers, but you also need BT Broadband and line rental. The cheapest deal for this is BT Vision Essential, at £30.08/month.
Sky Sports 1 and 2 add £12.90/month each, or £18.20/month together. ESPN is included in £12.50/month BT Vision Unlimited packaged, which also includes a range of services over your BT Broadband connection.
The ESPN channel on BT Vision is only available from 2pm-4am from Monday to Friday, 11am-6am on Saturdays, and 11am-4am on Sundays.
How can I watch the Scottish Premier League on Freesat?
Neither Sky Sports nor ESPN are available on Freesat.
How can I watch the Scottish Premier League online?
Sky subscribers can watch all of their Sky Sports channels, including ESPN, on Sky Go via broadband, WiFi or 3G, on your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, selected Android phones and Xbox 360.
If you’re not a Sky subscriber, you can get Sky Go for £35/month with Sky Sports and entertainment, and £40 a month for entertainment, Sky Movies and Sky Sports. ESPN costs from £9/month-£12/month extra.
Some Scottish Premier League matches are expected to be added to Sky’s new Now TV pay-as-you-go service later this year.
The Scottish Premier League also has its own YouTube channel, splofficial, carrying highlights, pre- and post-match interviews, and behind the scenes features.
Saturday match highlights will be available from 6pm the following Sunday, and other match highlights will be posted from midnight on the day of the match.
What about other major football championships?
We’ve also compiled guides to watching the Barclays Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup and the nPower Championship and League.
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