Richard Keys DR Article - Boycott Sky Sports

[blueredandwhite 47]

Article from the Daily Record - Have included transcript below to avoid the Daily Record getting any undeserved clicks. Not sure if this is suited to the Bears Den, but the deal between sky and scottish football is only going to become more malignant to Rangers as time goes on.

 

EXCLUSIVE: Boycott Sky Sports until they pay a fair price for Scottish football - TV broadcaster Richard Keys

Telly broadcaster Richard Keys last night called on armchair fans to boycott Sky Sports and force the satellite giants to pay a fair price for Scottish football.

Keys spoke exclusively to Record Sport yesterday after we detailed the enormous gulf in the value of broadcast deals across the European game.

Our expose showed how our struggling clubs are having to make ends meet with one of the most paltry TV incomes anywhere on the continent. The former Sky Sports frontman says he was “astounded” by the disparity which sees the SPFL scrape by on millions less than top flights in countries such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Greece – never mind the billions being dished out to clubs in England, Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

 

Sky must play fair, says Keys

And he blames his old bosses for mounting what he describes as a deliberate attempt to force Scottish football, on to its knees.

Keys said: “I wouldn’t advocate people taking to the streets to make their views known but the people of Merseyside deserve enormous credit for the boycott of The Sun newspaper after they were scandalously treated by it post Hillsborough. They simply refused to buy it.

Scottish football's pathetic TV deal is bottom of the Euro table

“Maybe it’s time the people of Scotland took a similar stand. Maybe they have to send a message to London they’re not prepared to put up with this. What’s the best way to do that? Stop spending 35 quid a month on a Sky subscriptions.

“Scottish football is never going to get better unless it has the wherewithal to be able to so. And that requires somebody comes and spends some money on it.

“It needs people who are prepared to invest in it and to grow it, not try to take it on the cheap.

“It’s wrong Scottish football is at the bottom of the European league never mind the British league when it comes to TV rights.

“But what Scottish fans have to do is find a way to make those buying the rights sit up and think.”Keys insists big broadcasters should be prepared to pay the going rate for today’s Scottish top flight, especially now Brendan Rodgers has added some stardust to the set-up at a time when the Old Firm derby is back on the top flight menu after a four-year absence.

But the SPFL is locked into a long-standing deal with Sky and BT which runs until 2020.

Keys said: “What they are paying for today bears no resemblance to what they were buying four or five years ago because of the Old Firm fixture and also the presence of Rodgers.

“He has his critics but Brendan has doubled Celtic’s crowds from 30,000 to 60,000 overnight. He’s creating a team that are making people sit up and take notice by setting records.

 “Look, Scottish football is not entirely blameless for the mess it got itself into a few years ago. But the Old Firm is back and you have something of value to offer the broadcasters.

“There should be a commitment from London for the betterment of Scottish football because everyone in Britain can benefit from a strong game up north. Just look how Liverpool benefited from having Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen.

“There should be a responsibility to help Scottish football because that’s in everyone’s interest. That’s what the broadcasters in London don’t seem to understand.”

[Cracked Actor 722]

Totally agree with boycotting Sky and BT. I hope the day comes when Amazon, Google or Netflix stream games on a pay as you watch basis with a proportion of the income going to the clubs involved. Until then it's a VPN and RTV for me. If I can't get English or European football on a free stream I don't watch it and don't miss it. 

[fuckthespl 2,446]

5 minutes ago, unionunderground said:

Totally agree with boycotting Sky and BT. I hope the day comes when Amazon, Google or Netflix stream games on a pay as you watch basis with a proportion of the income going to the clubs involved. Until then it's a VPN and RTV for me. If I can't get English or European football on a free stream I don't watch it and don't miss it. 

What VPN do you use?

[Trooblue 1,973]

1. Richard Keys has an agenda of his own, and is a dubious character to say the least.

2. The 'product' (Scottish football) is crap, so no broadcaster is going to pay over the odds for it. 

[Cracked Actor 722]

1 minute ago, fuckthespl said:

What VPN do you use?

I use Nord VPN, it's a small subscription but works well and is secure. 

[SuperTav 970]

1 minute ago, fuckthespl said:

What VPN do you use?

https://www.tunnelbear.com/

Never went over the 500mb allowance watching RTV, so it's free to use. Installed as a chrome extension which I only switch on for Rangers games. 

 

[centenarystand 2,227]

Richard keys

“You can trace it all back to 2002 and the deal Vic Wakeling didn’t do with Roger Mitchell who was in charge of the SPL – but who wasn’t very good at it.

Vic put something like £60m on the table and the response was, ‘Come back to me when you’re serious’. Vic withdrew the offer and overnight he made it clear we were to stop talking about Scottish football on Sky Sports News."

“All these years on still no one can tell me what Rangers were guilty of when they were sent down to the bottom tier."

[fuckthespl 2,446]

4 minutes ago, unionunderground said:

I use Nord VPN, it's a small subscription but works well and is secure. 

 

4 minutes ago, SuperTav said:

https://www.tunnelbear.com/

Never went over the 500mb allowance watching RTV, so it's free to use. Installed as a chrome extension which I only switch on for Rangers games. 

 

Cheers I'll check those out.

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,771]

9 minutes ago, Trooblue said:

1. Richard Keys has an agenda of his own, and is a dubious character to say the least.

2. The 'product' (Scottish football) is crap, so no broadcaster is going to pay over the odds for it. 

Nobody is going to pay over the odds for it but the deal they have at the moment is a shambles.

Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland & Greece all have deals that are worth significantly more than the Scottish TV deal is worth.

Rugby League has a deal worth 21 million pounds a year more than the SPFL deal is worth, even though they supposedly attract a fraction of the viewing figures that the biggest SPFL games do.

The SPFL is crap and obviously us being out the top league played a big part in the deal they were offered but there's no denying the TV deal they have at the moment is worth far less than it should be.

[gsa 3,906]

Why would sky pay more than they have to? Are they not a company with shareholders? They don't owe Scottish football anything. Scottish football is deplorable.

Apart from us and Celtic, nobody cares. And even then (despite what we and they tell ourselves) the old firms appeal is not actually that great outside of Scotland. 

The other European leagues in Scandinavia, Belgium, etc are not great but they are certainly more vibrant and attractive than Hamilton v kilmarnock or Ross county v Dundee. 

You create a good product and when the demand is there you can charge accordingly. You don't expect the prospective purchaser to make your product for you! 

Also, Richard keys is a complete cunt who's clearly bitter sky sacked him. 

 

[cushynumber 25,178]

16 minutes ago, Trooblue said:

1. Richard Keys has an agenda of his own, and is a dubious character to say the least.

2. The 'product' (Scottish football) is crap, so no broadcaster is going to pay over the odds for it. 

 

thats a circular argument. If Sky give us more money, the product gets better, making people more likely to watch it.

[Rangers No Other 235]

3 minutes ago, centenarystand said:

Richard keys

“You can trace it all back to 2002 and the deal Vic Wakeling didn’t do with Roger Mitchell who was in charge of the SPL – but who wasn’t very good at it.

Vic put something like £60m on the table and the response was, ‘Come back to me when you’re serious’. Vic withdrew the offer and overnight he made it clear we were to stop talking about Scottish football on Sky Sports News."

“All these years on still no one can tell me what Rangers were guilty of when they were sent down to the bottom tier."

Richard Keys has a deep love of Rangers and hates the tarriiers

Working in Liverpool and him and Pat Nevin came to an after party

Nevin in an old ankle length predator coat was attending to our Singers knee which he damaged during the gig

Told him to take his trousers off "put ice on the knee"

Keys was straight in with the innuendo, Torbett, Priests, the lot

Likes a drink,  lot of Hair for 1 man though

What you don't hear is how our City neighbours destroyed Scottish Footballs finances

The evening kick off at their place when Dallas got coined and they started skydiving

Polis said never again to a evening kick off unless it's a cup replay,

That was the start of the funds diluting/evaporating 

[cushynumber 25,178]

2 minutes ago, gsa said:

Why would sky pay more than they have to? Are they not a company with shareholders? Scottish football is deplorable. Apart from us and Celtic, nobody cares. And even then (despite what we and they tell ourselves) the old firms appeal is not actually that great outside of Scotland. 

The other European leagues in Scandinavia, Belgium, etc are not great but they are certainly more vibrant and attar give than Hamilton v kilmarnock or Ross county v Dundee. 

 You create a good product and when the demand is there you can charge accordingly. You don't expect the prospective purchaser to make your product for you! 

Also, Richard keys is a complete cunt who's clearly bitter sky sacked him. 

 

 

the only way the english product was created was with huge influxes of sky money. Why would we be any different? England hadnt created a good product and sky bought into it - sky threw money at them which made it a good product and they went from there.

[linfield1690 4,249]

Scottish football's pathetic TV deal is bottom of the Euro table

A Record Sport investigation reveals the extent to which the SPFL is underselling our game as chief Neil Doncaster gets set to negotiate a new TV deal.

 

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Scottish football's pathetic TV deal is bottom of the Euro table

A Record Sport investigation reveals the extent to which the SPFL is underselling our game as chief Neil Doncaster gets set to negotiate a new TV deal.

15COMMENTS

BYKEITH JACKSON

06:00, 30 MAR 2017

UPDATED08:47, 30 MAR 2017

Scottish football is being paid a pittance in comparison to other leagues (Photo: SNS Group)

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THE battle has begun to get a fairer price for Scottish football from mega-rich TV bosses.

But a Record Sport investigation into TV revenue across the continent has provided damning proof of why our game remains the poor man of Europe.

With Neil Doncaster already in discussions aimed at thrashing out an improved deal with broadcasters, the figures we release today show how far our top clubs are lagging behind foreign rivals – and highlight why theSPFL chief executive has to bring home the bacon for the sake of our national sport.

In fact, they provide damning proof the Scottish game is receiving a relative pittance for the rights to screen 60 live top-flight games per season on Sky and BT Sport.

bottom of a league of 18 countries, below the likes of Poland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark and dwarfed even by Greece.

BT Sport are believed to be keen to strike a new agreement which would see them go it alone from summer 2020.

But while the potential sums involved are thought to be in excess of the £31million a season which failed satellite company Setanta once forked out for Scottish football, even that would fall way short of the kind of cash which is being pumped into the game abroad.

It’s understood the SPFL’s joint crown-jewel deal with Sky and BT Sport is worth slightly less than £19m per season.

separate deal with the BBC are factored in.

The vast majority of that cash is spread between the top 12 clubs at the end of each season, with the leftover money dripping down to the lower leagues.

But the numbers are made to look absolutely paltry when compared with the enormous amount of cash the same two companies are ploughing into the game south of the border after recently agreeing a new three-year deal worth an eye-watering £5.14billion.

in other words, our struggling clubs pocket just 1.1 per cent of that annual telly jackpot.

While not even a newspaper as patriotic as this one would argue Scottish football deserves financial parity with the glitz and glamour of the English game, the sheer scale of this imbalance is ridiculous.

Scottish football is not only shivering in England’s financial shadow. Our figures show disparity knows no borders where our game is concerned.

Not surprisingly, Scotland’s TV cash is dwarfed by the other four of the big five – Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

The Bundesliga has just entered into a new four-year deal worth £900m a year. Serie A is raking in £805m per season.

And La Liga is currently tied into a three-year deal worth £753m a year.

In France, the existing deal for Ligue 1 is worth £638m per season. But it’s when you travel outside the most established, wealthy football nations that the paucity of Scotland’s current financial arrangements becomes even more apparent.

its Super Lig matches, dishes out £385m a year.

In Portugal the process is even more complex and allows clubs to sell their own broadcast rights to TV companies on contracts of up to 10 years at a time.

Benfica and Sporting Lisbon are believed to have negotiated their own deals worth in excess of £350m. But, even so, the total value of the broadcast deals for the entire Primeira Liga is 
calculated to come in at around £110m per year.

In Holland, a long-term deal has also been done for the rights to screen Eredivisie games at £70m a year.

Ninth in the table are Belgium who are entering into the final year of their TV contract, which has been worth £60m a year since 2014.

economic obliteration, the TV deals dwarf those in place for Scottish football.

They are currently gorging themselves on a contract which runs until 2019 and is worth £50m a season.

In 11th place in our rich league is Denmark which is incredible given that the Danes have a population of 5.6 million people – which is just 300,000 more than our own.

But, even so, the Danish Superliga is worth 54 million euros per season to domestic TV companies – which means the likes of Copenhagen, Brondby and Nordsjaelland get to split a total pot of £46m per year.

And in Norway, where Ronny Deila is currently in charge of Valerenga, it’s a similar story.

In fact, there is a six-year deal in place for the Eliteserien worth a total of £35m a year.

Which is not only enough to keep Deila in spotless underpants but also secures 12th place in our table.

bumper new deal will kick in later this year but even before that money floods in the existing contract still makes them relative oligarchs compared to the Scots.

In Poland the Ekstraklasa may sound more like a chocolate bar to cure constipation but it’s worth a tasty £28m a year.

Even the Swiss league is more interesting according to telly bosses who fork out £25m a year for the rights to a Super League containing Young Boys, Grasshoppers and Basel.

In Sweden the going rate is 25m euros or £21m per year to broadcast games from the 
Allsvenskan, with Austria’s top flight close behind on £19m for each campaign.

And only after all of them comes the SPFL and its relative pauper’s contract with Sky and BT which at the last count was valued at £18.75m a season.

No wonder then that Doncaster has already started the process of escaping from this agreement, which will keep the Scottish game in the poorhouse for three more years. The end can’t come soon enough.

[Blueshoff 11,772]

Why would they pay more?  If anyone (outwith people that have a west of Scotland connection) are even vaguely interested it is in 4 games a season.  And at the moment that isn't exactly appealing when you look at the league table.

[cushynumber 25,178]

2 minutes ago, Blueshoff said:

Why would they pay more?  If anyone (outwith people that have a west of Scotland connection) are even vaguely interested it is in 4 games a season.  And at the moment that isn't exactly appealing when you look at the league table.

1

to create a good product on the park that people will pay to watch and therefore buy sky subscriptions. That was their model in England. Why are we any different?

[Dan Deacon 55,148]

1 minute ago, cushynumber said:

to create a good product on the park that people will pay to watch and therefore buy sky subscriptions. That was their model in England. Why are we any different?

customer base is smaller ? That would be my initial assumption. 

[Blueshoff 11,772]

1 minute ago, cushynumber said:

to create a good product on the park that people will pay to watch and therefore buy sky subscriptions. That was their model in England. Why are we any different?

Market size?  England and Wales have more potential customers that Scotland.  Also possibly because most of Scotland has Sky sports anyway to watch English games and La Liga?

[blueredandwhite 47]

24 minutes ago, Trooblue said:

1. Richard Keys has an agenda of his own, and is a dubious character to say the least.

2. The 'product' (Scottish football) is crap, so no broadcaster is going to pay over the odds for it. 

Is the product of Scottish football not "crap" due to the neglected level of TV funding it perhaps deserves? 

[cushynumber 25,178]

4 minutes ago, Dan Deacon said:

customer base is smaller ? That would be my initial assumption. 

so give us money that is in relation to the population. the EPL got $5 Billion in 2015. Englands population is 53 Million ours is 5.3 million. £500 Million would be fine by me. 

[billscott 2,463]

15 minutes ago, DBBTB said:

Nobody is going to pay over the odds for it but the deal they have at the moment is a shambles.

Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Poland & Greece all have deals that are worth significantly more than the Scottish TV deal is worth.

Rugby League has a deal worth 21 million pounds a year more than the SPFL deal is worth, even though they supposedly attract a fraction of the viewing figures that the biggest SPFL games do.

The SPFL is crap and obviously us being out the top league played a big part in the deal they were offered but there's no denying the TV deal they have at the moment is worth far less than it should be.

while i agree with you it is not sky fault  they have to run the business to make money  if our own people at the spfl and the sfa cannot make a sensible deal for scottish football they are the ones who should get booted out

as for richard keys any chance  he has to have a pop at sky he will take it  i am sure him and gray thought sky football would crumble without  them but it has gone from strength to strength 

[K.A.I 36,183]

Sick of cunts telling me what to boycott and what to buy 

Scottish football deserves a shite deal hope they all suffer. Fuck the lot 

[simplythebest 11,453]

Smash it

[gsa 3,906]

6 minutes ago, cushynumber said:

the only way the english product was created was with huge influxes of sky money. Why would we be any different? England hadnt created a good product and sky bought into it - sky threw money at them which made it a good product and they went from there.

Because we are a retarded football culture in a small country with little potential? 

Between us and Celtic we have won the same amount of European trophies as Nottingham Forest. 

The national team hasn't qualified for a tournament in 20 years and they certainly aren't qualifying any time soon. 

Clubs that qualify for European competitions generally get knocked out in premilinary rounds by minnows from eastern Europe. 

I love Rangers and we get fantastic crowds in spite of the country we are in but let's be realistic, Scottish football is utter shit. 

[cushynumber 25,178]

1 minute ago, gsa said:

Because we are a retarded football culture in a small country with little potential? 

Between us and Celtic we have won the same amount of European trophies as Nottingham Forest. 

The national team hasn't qualified for a tournament in 20 years and they certainly aren't qualifying any time soon. 

Clubs that qualify for European competitions generally get knocked out in premilinary rounds by minnows from eastern Europe. 

I love Rangers and we get fantastic crowds in spite of the country we are in but let's be realistic, Scottish football is utter shit. 

 

throw money at it and most of that changes. Thats what sky done with the EPL. Does anybody remember what the EPL was like before sky? utter utter shite. 

Theres a reason we could compete and beat the English champions in 1992 and get a ball hair from the champions league final in the same year -   and not get near it 27 years later - because sky sports started in 1991 and they seen english football as the main way to get sky subs - so they threw money at them. There product improved, people bought sky subs, the EPL realised their value to sky etc etc.

But we shouldnt get the chicken before the egg