Daily Record: Premiership TV Shakeup Hands Hearts, Rangers and Celtic Easter Sunday Spotlight
The daily record of the Premiership schedule shows a concentrated TV selection: Sky Sports has announced three more TV picks, moving two matches to Sunday and designating Rangers’ game as the final pre-split fixture.
What did the Daily Record reveal about the pre-split TV schedule?
Verified facts: Sky Sports announced three additional televised fixtures for the final rounds before the Premiership splits. The Scottish Professional Football League published the schedule choices for round 32 and round 33. Livingston v Hearts has been moved from Saturday, April 4 to Sunday, April 5 with a 2: 00 p. m. kickoff. Dundee v Celtic on the same weekend is scheduled to follow at 4: 30 p. m. The following weekend, Falkirk v Rangers was moved from Saturday, April 11 to Sunday, April 12 with a noon kickoff, making it the last televised match before the split. The SPFL schedule shows a set of standard 3: 00 p. m. Saturday kickoffs surrounding those changes.
Analysis: The three selections place the top three teams — Hearts, Rangers and Celtic — into prominent broadcast windows across the first two weeks of April. Those choices compress headline matchups into Easter Sunday and the final pre-split weekend, concentrating national broadcast attention in the run-up to the split.
How do these moves alter the immediate title-race picture?
Verified facts: Hearts are leading the division by six points at the top of the table after the Old Firm drew on Sunday. Hearts’ penultimate pre-split fixture has been moved for a 2: 00 p. m. Sunday kick-off, and Celtic’s trip to Dundee will kick off at 4: 30 p. m. on the same day. Rangers’ scheduled visit to Falkirk is now the final televised fixture before the league divides into top six and bottom six.
Analysis: Televised scheduling concentrates scrutiny on the top-three clubs at a decisive moment of the season. With Hearts six points clear, the selection of their away game for a high-profile Sunday slot amplifies the exposure and narrative around the title race. The placement of Rangers’ fixture as the last televised pre-split match means national attention will coincide with the league’s structural pivot into the closing stages.
Who controls the slots, what limits were reached, and what accountability is needed?
Verified facts: Broadcasters have allocated fixtures across the remaining rounds. It is noted that Premier Sports has used up its allocation of fixtures at Hearts’ home ground, while Sky Sports has one of its five games remaining at that venue. The SPFL’s broadcast decisions leave several matches on the traditional Saturday 3: 00 p. m. slate while selecting specific fixtures for live windows on Sunday, including the two Easter Sunday games and the final pre-split televised match.
Analysis: Control of televised slots rests with the broadcasters and the SPFL’s selection process. The exhaustion of one broadcaster’s home-venue allocation and the remaining balance of the other’s allocations have a practical effect on which matches are available for live selection. That dynamic shapes which clubs receive marquee coverage in the critical pre-split phase.
Accountability and next steps: Verified fact listings and scheduling choices are on the record with the SPFL and the broadcasters named in the schedule. Analysis suggests a need for transparent communication from the SPFL about how broadcast allocations are determined and whether additional ad hoc fixtures can be agreed to reflect competitive significance. Fans and clubs are now facing a compressed broadcast calendar that concentrates decisive fixtures into a small number of televised windows.
El-Balad. com will continue to track the scheduled televised fixtures and publish verified updates as the league moves into the split phase of the season. The daily record of fixture changes and broadcast allocations will be essential reading for supporters and stakeholders as the title race reaches its closing stretch.
