The SPFL are set to launch a new centralised streaming platform next week with the first matches broadcast on Saturday 15th August.
SPFL Player will replace Pay Per View in the Championship, League One and League Two following a trial during the Lower League Playoffs at the end of last season, which were aired on the Premier Sports Player.
It is expected that the new SPFL Player will utilise Irish broadcaster’s Premier Sports streaming technology and will share similar functionality to the League of Ireland’s OTT (Over-the-top) service which is also provided by Premier.
The new service will launch Tuesday, matchday passes will cost £10.99 and allow fans to watch any live lower league matches outwith the Saturday 15:00 blackout that is not also selected for TV by BBC Scotland or BBC ALBA.
Live fixtures on 15th August:
League One
Alloa vs Montrose
East Kilbride vs Cove Rangers
Hamilton Accies vs Airdrieonians
Peterhead vs East Fife
League Two
Annan vs Clyde
Dumbarton vs Edinburgh City
Elgin vs Kelty Hearts
Forfar Athletic vs Stirling Albion
Stranraer vs Spartans
No Championship matches due to the League Cup Last 16.
Six Saturdays are already excluded from the Article 38 blackout this season1 (see below), but re-arranged midweek matches are also expected to be included in the service.
All matches on the final day of the season - Saturday 1 May - are expected to be part of the service so any potential Helicopter Saturday situations will be available to watch.
This does feel like a massive step in the right direction from the SPFL.
While every Scottish Premiership match is equipped with a full six-camera broadcast funded by the leagues coffers, there is no minimum requirement in the lower divisions.
Many lower league clubs often rely on volunteers, students, or ineffective cameras to capture, produce, and distribute their matches.
The scale the SPFL can provide in one streaming service rather than clubs operating 30 different service should also provide a far more accessible service for fans, and even offer the ability to flick between matches.
The League did attempt to provide a similar platform during the pandemic called SPFL MatchCentre, but only Inverness opted into the service - when an AI camera famously followed a bald assistant referee rather than the match ball.
Tom Cox@seagull81
Inverness Caledonian Thistle don’t employ a cameraman as their camera is programmed to follow the ball throughout the match. The commentator had to apologise today as the camera kept on mistaking the ball for the linesman’s head...
10:36 PM · Oct 24, 2020
157 Replies · 1.76K Reposts · 9.22K Likes
This time, however, production will use manned cameras with an aspiration to incrementally improve the quality of broadcast across the divisions throughout the season.
The timing is apt as BBC Scotland are set to scale-back production of their Friday night matches due to financial pressures at the public broadcaster and an increased focus on digital content.
Live Championship matches, as seen on Friday between Partick Thistle and Livingston, are now only set to receive five minutes of build-up before kicking-off at 19:30. You can read about that in more detail here:
The technology and infrastructure now available to the SPFL can be a big step in potentially selling Scottish Premiership matches into new markets, or even potentially merging the Premiership clubs’ PPV systems into the new Player at a future date.
After a brief spell of streaming in Canada, that country is one major market that remains without an official broadcaster of any Scottish football. So keep an eye on what happens next.
However, the proof will be in the Pie on a Roll…
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Saturday 15 August, Saturday 12 September, Saturday 3 October, Saturday 14 November, Saturday 27 March, Saturday 1 May
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