grahamteuchter 1 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Exclusive: ITV bosses black out coverage of Rangers' Champions League games on STV Sep 5 2009 Chris Musson FOOTBALL fans will miss seeing Rangers' European campaign on terrestrial telly because of a snub by ITV bosses. London-based executives say they will show only Champions League games featuring English teams in their live Wednesday night slot - saying they want matches with the greatest UK-wide appeal. And they failed to secure an opt-out to allow Scottish Television to show Rangers while fans south of the Border watch Liverpool or Arsenal. It means only the small proportion of Scotland's 2.2million households who subscribe to Sky Sports will be able to see Rangers live. Bosses at STV, who take the live feed from the ITV network, are furious with the raw deal. Instead of the Ibrox side's opener against VfB Stuttgart on September 16, ITV1 will screen Liverpool's home tie with Hungarian minnows Debrecen. In previous years, the optout has meant Scots fans weren't short-changed and last season it allowed STV to show Celtic's matches live. But when ITV negotiated their new contract with UEFA, they only secured the rights to one match every Wednesday, while Sky won the rest. ITV bosses. have already chosen to show Liverpool on two of the three Wednesdays when Rangers are playing their away games in Group G. And STV bosses expect ITV to show Olympiakos v Arsenal or Liverpool v Fiorentina on the third date ,December 9. Rangers' other three group matches - all at home - are on Tuesdays, when Sky has rights to all the matches . STV are understood to have asked ITV to screen Rangers on one of the three Wednesdays. But that plea was snubbed. An STV insider said: "We are shocked and pretty angry at how this has worked out . "We don't know why ITV didn't secure a Scottish opt-out for this season with UEFA. "To rectify that lack of care you would think they could pick at least one Rangers match to showon ITV1. "Missing Rangers' first group match really sticks in the craw. "Liverpool are at home and you would expect them to win comfortably against Debrecen. "Meanwhile, Rangers are up against a top German team in Stuttgart. To a football person, that would seem like a more exciting game." The only chance for Rangers fans to see their team play in Europe on terrestrial TV will be the highlights showat 10.30pm on Wednesday nights. Our STV source added: "The risk was ITV1 would just show five minutes of Rangers at the end of the highlights show. "So we're producing our own so we can at least lead the highlights with Rangers. "On the Wednesdays Rangers are playing, we'll be taking the live pictures from ITV1 and having our own team hosting. "This means Rob MacLean will host the live match - Liverpool on September 16 - then he'll be back with the highlights at 10.30pm. "We're trying to do our best with what we've got, while hoping ITVhaveachange of heart." Last night, ITV would not say whether they could have made a bid for a Scottish opt-out. A spokesman said: "We are a commercial broadcaster for the whole UK and the predominant factor is which game is going to have the greatest appeal to our audience." this is not good news Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davie1689 1 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 not so good for the armchair fan but should be good news for ticket sales Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermopylae 15,287 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Nice to hear that SCOTTISH television are living up to their name Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz52 11,837 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 absolutely pathetic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdzKyle 7,898 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 not so good for the armchair fan but should be good news for ticket sales Yeah, but on CL nights Ibrox is normally full anyway and this only allows just under 50,000 in. Scottish fans let down yet again! I have Sky Sports but for those that dont this is an absolute disgrace. Can you imagine the outcry from England if it was the other way round?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac444 6 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Can't say I care about that tbh STV coverage is shite anyway. Far rather watch it on Sky anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueballss 2,972 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 now i wonder if the mhanky mob were..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermopylae 15,287 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 absolutely pathetic Although I'm sure they will sort something out if septic ever make it back into the CL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie! 8 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Shocking. Hopefully Sky put a few of our games on one of the channels, as I don't have the interactive service with VM. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKGER 138 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 not so good for the armchair fan but should be good news for ticket sales yer, i cant stand those pescy arm-chair fans who cant afford to buy tickets or travel miles for a mid-week game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boab 73 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Can't say I care about that tbh STV coverage is shite anyway. Far rather watch it on Sky anyway. This for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmarLittle 2 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 The ironic thing is that our viewing figures for UK wide coverage on ITV4 of our UEFA cup run was pulling in greater viewing numbers than what they were have got for showing English teams on ITV4 whether in the UEFA cup or Champions league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluepeter 5,627 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Pretty disappointing. For me, all it will do is speed up me getting my arse in gear to get Sky Sports. I've been meaning to get it this season for the donestic games anyway, just haven't got round to it yet. It's a kick in the teeth for a lot of people though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradfield 35 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 I can't help but imagine STV's opting out of broadcasting England games, the FA cup and new ITV-produced drama/documentaries has something to do with this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dietspam 733 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Can't say I care about that tbh STV coverage is shite anyway. Far rather watch it on Sky anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
docspiderman 1,234 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 STV have been opting out of ITV network productions in favour of their own parochial tat and I would not be surprised if they had opted out of taking ITV feeds to broadcast our game live. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey_RFC 122 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Disgraceful. I'm usually working midweek anyway and only get every second Wednesday night off. Looks like I'll just have to head to the pub. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hammer 11 2,584 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Right so I've got my tickets for the home game but how do I watch the away games? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
whyrusogood 2 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Can't say I care about that tbh STV coverage is shite anyway. Far rather watch it on Sky anyway. i agree with u stv is pathetic coverage but cant help feel for the older gers fan who doesnt have sky...an disgrace but nothing surprises me now...money talks !! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hammer 11 2,584 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Can't say I care about that tbh STV coverage is shite anyway. Far rather watch it on Sky anyway. i agree with u stv is pathetic coverage but cant help feel for the older gers fan who doesnt have sky...an disgrace but nothing surprises me now...money talks !! There was an offer to get skysports half price for three months if thats any help to bears out there Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoltonLoyal 2 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 "London-based executives say they will show only Champions League games featuring English teams in their live Wednesday night slot - saying they want matches with the greatest UK-wide appeal." What a load of old tripe. England-wide maybe, but UK-wide - absolute shite. Rangers' fan base runs into millions in the UK alone! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WATPRFC1872. 220 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Thats a fucking disgrace tbh. Absolute JOKE. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigRFC 1 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 "London-based executives say they will show only Champions League games featuring English teams in their live Wednesday night slot - saying they want matches with the greatest UK-wide appeal." What a load of old tripe. England-wide maybe, but UK-wide - absolute shite. Rangers' fan base runs into millions in the UK alone! Well all we have to do is boycott they games and not watch them. Then we will see if they what their UK appeal is at then. Rangers v Stuttgart will have more viewers in England than what Liverpool v Some wee shite team will. So the excuses they are making for it are absoloute bollocks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GovanFrontGers 1 Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Would this have happened if the dims were the only team in cl from Scotland? No chance yet another attempt at having a total blackout of all things Rangers. How much more do we or will we put up with? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Brown Brogue Posted September 5, 2009 Share Posted September 5, 2009 Have to say I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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