As the draw for the playoffs were made today, I wonder which broadcasters will show the following:

Dinamo Zagreb v HEARTS
EVERTON v Sigma Olomouc
FULHAM v Akmar Perm
Rapid Vienna v ASTON VILLA

I can see Five taking up Rapid Vienna v Aston Villa as that sounds a mouth watering game.

Then ITV4, may show a game too, but what happened to those rights Setanta Sports held before the channel ceased?

Does the deal begin this round or from the group stages.

Group stages i believe

Group stages.

I assume that if no-one has purchased the ex-Setanta rights that they will be avaialbble on a match-by-match basis.

Also, out of interest do any of you know if ITV's rights allow STV to chose a different game?
Last edited by tvphil : 07-08-2009 at 18:20

Don't forget Steaua Bucurest v Saint Patrick's Athletic.
Will Eurosport show any of the matches LIVE this round I wonder?

Possibly, but they will still be sold centrally rather than by the clubs.


ITV's games will be shown on ITV4, which has no opt-out for Scotland.

STV can't afford to show any football anyway.

Unlikely in the UK.
The date of the first leg, British Eurosport has live athletics and BE2 has live golf.

For the second leg, more golf on BE2, while BE has live women's football (Iceland v Norway).

Wow, you really do know your stuff. Did you check the Eurosport listings by any chance?

No, it just popped into my mind in a flash of psychic inspiration

So BBC Scotland could probably show Dinamo Zagreb v HEARTS but then they could not show the next round or anything else of the UEFA Cup as ITV and Five have the rights. Am I correct?

It raises an interesting point. Could you answer it Arius? The home nations are separate entities, yet the TV deal is negotiated for the UK. Do you know why this is?

Would like to see Hearts. But wouldn't bank on any coverage despite being from the Capital there not old firm.

As I understand it - yes.

But as long the ex-Setanta rights remain unsold BBC Scotland might just get away with buying the rights for all of Hearts' Europa League games for as long as they remain in the competition.

I think all the potential bidders for the ex-Setanta rights are waiting to see whether HEARTS, EVERTON, FULHAM and ASTON VILLA all make it through to the group stages. Certainly at least 3 would need to make it through to make the rights tempting enough with Five and ITV4 already set to show one game each per round. With the possible exception of ESPN who might be happy to show some non-British teams if they can get the rights at a knock-down price.

ESPN or STV?

I bet it won't be STV

Maybe they are waiting to see if Arsenal end up in the Europa League first, though the alternative is Celtic, which must still have some attraction.

It's really a pity UEFA haven't considered the non-English angle to the broadcasting of the Europa League. They seem to (wrongly) believe that because there is a British TV market, the TV companies see all the teams as "home" teams, but that clearly isn't the case. I'm sure Five and ITV4 would rather show two non-British teams than show the likes of Hearts.

I think its a shame that broadcasters like ESPN don't show Europa League games in line with there portfolio. If you have Eredivisie and Bundesliga it would nice to get the PSV, Hamburg etc games.

Sky have a Europa league play off scheduled, they just haven't announced what one it is.

They did yesterday anyway. doesn't look like it now.

For Irish Viewers its believed that Setanta Hibernian still have UEFA Europa Rights to be shown on Setanta Sports. Will be interesting too see what fixtures they pick up.

I disagree. I cannot think of a likely scenario for there to be a UEFA Cup/Europe League game between two non-british teams that would get higher ratings than a british team who were playing on the same night.

Oh yes, I had forgotten about either Arsenal or Celtic being there too.

Yes, that was another mad thing about Setanta. They could have had UEFA cup games involving Dutch, French and German teams for peanuts last season. Same with international games from the same groups as England, Scotland etc.

Well I agree with you about the ratings, but there is a general principle that any football involving non-Old Firm Scottish teams should not be shown UK wide. The most likely outcome would be that no game would be shown, rather than an all-foreign game, I suppose.

The Ajax v Hamburg ties last season were tasty. Luckily someone uploaded full highlights on YouTube.

It would fit well into ESPN with their coverage of European Leagues and they do not have a lot on on a thursday (if they do correct me) except some rubbish baseball. Or even Sky Sports as they normally do not have any football on Thursdays and Hearts/Celtic (fit into Scottish coverage)/English side unchosen/St Patrick's Athletic (irish viewers) may attract viewers if needed on Thursday nights.