Pay-television broadcaster Premier Sports will replace rival Sky to broadcast the Scottish Cup alongside BBC Scotland for the next six seasons, from 2018-19 to 2023-24.
The Scottish Football Association has also announced a six-season deal with the IMG agency that will enable to agency to market the Scottish Cup’s international rights.
From 2019-20, BBC Scotland will cover one live match in the first three rounds of the Scottish Cup, whilst both broadcasters will cover two exclusive live matches each from rounds four to six. Premier Sports will broadcast one semi-match exclusively but will share coverage of the other, and the final, with BBC Scotland.
Sky has held Scottish Cup rights alongside BBC Scotland for the past four seasons, from 2014-15 to 2017-18. Sky’s deal included rights to friendly matches of the Scottish national team and Scottish FA Youth Cup.
The international deal with IMG includes all live, betting, archive and digital clips rights.
The deals have been announced when the Scottish Professional Football League are in negotiations for its own domestic media rights. It launched a tender from 2020-21 on October 1. Sky currently share rights with pay-television broadcast BT Sport in three-season deals, from 2017-18 to 2019-20.