Back on our supporters bus on Sunday afternoon, with everyone elated at the result, the Celtic performance and the implications that the win, after Hearts had dropped points at Fir Park meant for our title chances…
Those with tickets for tomorrow night’s game were a little less bothered but the rest wanted to know where to watch the Motherwell v Celtic game on Wednesday night, with the assumption being that it was going to be on Sky Sports.
Someone checked and noticed that it was NOT listed as being on Sky and various mobile searches were underway. I checked the SPFL website and reported to the bus that the official plan was for Sky Sports to show the Hearts v Falkirk game and in that broadcast they would update viewers by showing any goals from Fir Park as Motherwell took on the title chasing Hoops.
Sky Sports blackout of Motherwell v Celtic match is unsatisfactory…https://t.co/dWcc8X5bEe @ordinarybhoy
— Celtic Shorts News Feed (@CelticStarMag) May 11, 2026
Writing about this yesterday on Celtic Shorts in an article titled Sky Sports blackout of Motherwell v Celtic match is unsatisfactory various points were made about how this would never be allowed to happen in a close English title race while accepting that the first choice match for Sky Sports should of course be Hearts v Falkirk as only Hearts have a chance on actually winning the title tomorrow night.
We also noted that Motherwell FC were NOT (at that time) offering a PPV service, which would ordinarily have happened before as in recent seasons Sky Sports and the SPFL had reached an agreement to allow each club in the Scottish Premiership an allocation to use PPV broadcasts on a limited number of games (usually when Celtic or the Rangers were the visitors and Sky Sports had not selected that particular match).
Celtic then tweeted that explaining that they as the away side did not have any rights to show the game in Britain or Ireland while reminding subscribers that the Motherwell v Celtic match would of course still be shown live on Celtic TV for subscribers outside of those two islands.
Great News – Motherwell TV offers £15 PPV for Wednesday’s match against Celtic…https://t.co/fdLMy5O6X8
— Celtic Shorts News Feed (@CelticStarMag) May 11, 2026
Celtic however did give a hint that Motherwell might actually show the game and sure enough, shortly afterwards, Motherwell FC announced the good news that they would indeed now be showing the match on PPV for a cost of £15. I welcomed that news in this article – Great News – Motherwell TV offers £15 PPV for Wednesday’s match against Celtic.
I then duly purchased the PPV service from Motherwell TV – to avoid the inevitable last minute rush – and the £15 was paid. Having in good faith alerted other Celtic supporters to the service from Motherwell and the failings from Sky Sports in not showing both matches on Wednesday night – I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the news that Sky Sports had a rethink.
Obviously seeing the backlash from Celtic supporters and reading the articles on News Now and Celtic News Now from sites like Celtic Shorts and others, they decided to step in and use one of the Scottish Premiership match rights they were going to let go to waste (as they usually do) by showing the Motherwell v Celtic game after all.
🚨 BREAKING: Another 𝗛𝗨𝗚𝗘 game in the Scottish Premiership title race will be shown 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗸𝘆 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀, with Motherwell vs Celtic selected for coverage, alongside Hearts vs Falkirk on Wednesday.
📺 Hearts vs Falkirk & Motherwell vs Celtic | Wednesday from 7pm… pic.twitter.com/XiulbFrwgW
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) May 11, 2026
While the outcome is decent for the Celtic support, those like myself have spent £15 on a PPV service we no longer need and will not watch given that the coverage and the broadcast on Sky Sports will be better.
The SPFL, Sky Sports and Motherwell FC should now look at this with perhaps Sky Sports asking Motherwell how many people have purchased the PPV so that the broadcaster can fund the refunds. Of course there will be Celtic supporters who don’t want to cancel their PPV purchase as they don’t have Sky Sports, so those affected by this shambles should be contacted today and offered the chance to get a refund and Sky Sports should pay for it.
More chance of pigs flying on that one sadly. I’m angry not about losing £15 myself but about alerting Celtic supporters to the Motherwell PPV in good faith only for the goalposts to be moved again by Sky Sports.
Some of the comments from supporters to this u-turn from Sky Sports are shown below.
“Pathetic that Sky Sports had to be embarrassed into it. Would this have happened in the Premier League?”
“Hope you do the right thing and do Motherwell a turn. Looks like you lot caved in when you realised money was going elsewhere.”
“Correct decision, now pay SPFL decent ££ for the TV rights.”
“Shocking from Sky Sports. This should have been sanctioned before Motherwell opted for PPV. Well done Motherwell FC. You’ll have my £15.”
“After loads of supporters have already paid £15 for the Motherwell PPV.”
“Common sense, absolutely massive night of football, was ridiculous wasn’t going to be on.”
“Quite possibly the first ever good thing Sky Sports has ever done in Scotland.”
“Mental that both weren’t scheduled in the 1st place. If it was English games, they wouldn’t have thought twice.”
“Common sense prevails. Sky should always remember people subscribe to their sports channels for games like this!”
“Good news, Sky has multiple games left in the deal that they can show, so it’s good they have actually done it for once.”
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