New six-year TV deal for Scottish Cup
A six-year deal to showcase Scottish Cup matches around the world has been agreed with IMG, the Scottish FA has announced.
BBC Scotland and Premier Sports will screen a selection of fixtures in the competition, meaning more matches in the competition will be shown on free-to-air TV than ever before.
The broadcasters will each show two live games per round on an exclusive basis, in rounds four to six. One semi-final will be exclusively shown by Premier Sports while the other semi and the cup final will be shown across both channels.
Running until the end of the 2023/24 season, and covering the 150th anniversary of the competition, the deal will see BBC Scotland increase their coverage of the Scottish Cup.
A spokesman added: “We will cover two live matches from rounds four, five and six and, from season 2019/20, we will follow the early rounds across the country for the first time.
“We think this is good news for audiences in Scotland given the huge appetite which exists for Scottish football, and it demonstrates our commitment to the game here.”
The new deal will provide a boost for some of Scotland’s smaller clubs, with
would be sitting, what suit I was meant to wear or anything,” he recalled yesterday. “So I just thought, ‘I’m getting out of here’ and I went to the other side of the world. I watched it on TV and it felt really strange as I didn’t know who to support and what was going on. But hopefully now there are more finals to come and I will get the chances.”
The midfielder looked to be on the way out at Celtic even as recently as a few weeks ago. But an influential cameo appearance after coming on as a half-time substitute in the 3-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win over Hearts at the end of last month reignited his Celtic career.
Christie has now scored three goals in five appearances since re-establishing himself in Rodgers’ side and has been called up to the Scotland squad for the forthcoming matches against Albania and Israel.
“In the short term, I just want to kick on and keep my place in the starting XI,” he said. “I want to keep making an impact when I can.
“Long term, I want to have a proper impact on this club winning silverware. When you are growing up as a kid, that’s what you want to do. You dream about winning trophies and Celtic is an incredible club to do that at. There is the chance to win trophies every year and to be part of that would be very special.
“You see the photos around the stadium of winning teams and I want to make my mark,” he added.
“The boys have been incredible in the last few seasons, creating history. Personally, I want to help that and bring more trophies to the club. It’s a great period for the club and it’s exciting to be part of it. It is a little bit difficult when you are at another club and you see the success Celtic had.
“To be fair, I loved my time at Aberdeen. I was enjoying my football a lot up there and that has helped me. But missing the finals definitely gives me the added boost to come back and play this time.”