BBC in ‘live talks’ to show Scotland football matches

The new director of BBC Scotland has told MPs that talks to show Scotland men’s football matches live are ongoing.

Hayley Valentine said she would “love” for the corporation to broadcast the international games but added screening them was “not cheap”.

Norwegian broadcaster Viaplay currently holds the rights to all of the Scotland men’s team’s competitive matches until 2028.

Ms Valentine’s appearance before the Scottish Affairs committee at Westminster, comes amid ongoing pressure for more Scotland matches to be shown on free-to-air channels.

Ms Valentine, who took up her post in November, told MPs: “I know how important sport is to Scottish audiences.

“I’m a big football fan, these moments are huge for us, and of course we would love to have the men’s internationals.

“These things are not cheap and we have to think about value for money in all of our decision-making.”

The former head of BBC Midlands also warned the corporation would have to find the funds from within its budget.

Ms Valentine said: “In order to pay for one thing, there is no extra money, so what are we not doing to fund something else?

“I don’t really want to go much further than that because there are some live discussions going on, but of course I would be delighted if we could bring those to free-to-air audience.”

She also said talks were ongoing regarding the rights to show the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Glasgow.

But Ms Valentine added the financial position was not easy to manage and there were some “difficult choices” to make.

Viaplay Sports charges about £180 a year for a subscription to watch programmes on its streaming service.

But the Norwegian broadcaster announced in June it is to end its coverage of sport in the UK, which means the rights to show the games from 2028 will be up for grabs.

Scotland matches were broadcast on Sky before moving in June 2022 to Premier Sports.

The Scottish Football Supporters’ Association previously said there was overwhelming backing for matches to be shown by free-to-air broadcasters like BBC Scotland and STV.

England matches are currently shown for free on Channel 4, while Scotland women’s matches are shown on the BBC Scotland Channel.

The broadcaster also shares the rights to the Scottish cup with Viaplay.

Green MSP Gillian Mackay said news of the talks would “be welcomed by football fans all over Scotland, who want to back our team but are being priced out of it”.

Ms Mackay added: “Sport should be for everyone, and I want as many young people as possible to be able to grow up watching their heroes in action.

“That can help us to ensure that our next generation of footballers can feel inspired and dream of playing for their country.”

Meanwhile, Louise Thornton, BBC Scotland’s head of multi-platform commissioning, defended the performance of the BBC Scotland channel to MPs amid concerns over falling viewer numbers.

She said there had been a decline in “linear” viewing – people watching programmes as they are broadcast – but stressed the importance of the BBC’s iPlayer platform, which allows people to view programmes at a time of their choosing.

She told MPs: “The prominence of Scottish content on iPlayer has improved massively, and we are getting more programmes on the front of iPlayer than ever.

“Although the linear decline we are seeing is a concern, it is just a reality.

“For me the growth in iPlayer is offsetting that, particularly for Scottish content.”

Ms Thornton added: “iPlayer is absolutely the future of where audiences are going, so we need to keep our eyes on the growth there.”