Article 48 of UEFA’s statutes enforces a UK-wide ban on games being broadcast live between 2.45 and 5.15 on a Saturday afternoon.

Originally introduced to protect attendances, the rule has been in place since the 1960s.

In an Invitation to Tender circulated to broadcasters last week, however, the SPFL indicated a willingness to be flexible on the terms of a new contract from season 2029/30.  

Sky Sports currently show a maximum of 60 live Scottish Premiership games, while Premier Sports have secondary rights to 20. Keen to drive up the current broadcast deal from £34million per annum, removing the blocked hours could draw more money for clubs.

In August, the English Premier League Chief Executive indicated that the direction of travel was to end the blackout, but any decision must be taken in consultation with national associations.

And while the SFA are open to discussions on the subject, Herald Sport understands that senior figures within the governing body have yet to be persuaded that the removal of Article 48 is in the wider interests of the Scottish football ecosystem from a sporting, societal or economic perspective.

While the English Premier League leans heavily on multi-billion-pound broadcasting deals,  Scottish clubs still derive a large percentage of their income from matchday attendances which, per head of population, trump every other league in Europe.

While top-flight clubs are open to the idea of selling more live games in return for a substantially better deal, the SFA are conscious of their responsibility to lower- and non-league clubs to offer supporters an incentive to watch games in person rather than watching from an armchair.