Tuesday 28 July 2009

CELTIC’S IMPENDING MATCHES ON BBC ALBA

CELTIC V DINAMO MOSCOW EXCLUSIVE BROADCAST ON BBC ALBA
CELTIC V SUNDERLAND LIVE AND EXCLUSIVE ON BBC ALBA

BBC ALBA is delighted to announce that it will be the only channel in the UK to broadcast exclusive coverage of Celtic’s UEFA Champions League third round qualifier against Dinamo Moscow.

It has been agreed that Wednesday’s match at Celtic Park, with a kick off time of 7.45pm, will be broadcast on BBC ALBA on Thursday 30 July at 10pm. No television channel in the UK will have the rights to a live broadcast and BBC ALBA will be the only channel providing coverage of this match.

Wednesday’s game against Dinamo Moscow will be the first competitive match for Celtic at home under Tony Mowbray since his return to the club as manager.

BBC ALBA will also broadcast live coverage of Celtic’s pre-season match against Sunderland taking place on Saturday 1 August, with a kick-off time of 3pm.

Alan Esslemont, head of content for BBC ALBA, said: “Our coverage of the SPL brought something new to Scottish fans last season and this Celtic double bill brings football back to BBC ALBA with a flourish. It sets us up perfectly for the return of SPL football on the channel when the new season kicks off.”

The programme packages will also provide an in-depth feature interview with Celtic Manager Tony Mowbray, split into two parts, one for each of the above games. The interview will cover Tony Mowbray’s previous spell at Celtic as a player and his ambitions and aspirations for Celtic as manager.

Wednesday’s game will also feature an exclusive interview new £2million signing Danny Fox looking to the season ahead under his new manager, with Saturday’s programme taking a look ahead to Celtic’s trip to Moscow the following week.

Celtic v Dinamo Moscow - Thursday 30 July at 10pm, on BBC ALBA.

Celtic v Sunderland - Saturday 1 August at 3pm, live on BBC ALBA and repeated at 10pm Saturday 1 August and 2.25pm Sunday 2 August.

BBC ALBA provides as-live coverage of one SPL match every Saturday throughout the season as well as a package of live SFL matches.

Coverage on BBC ALBA is being provided in association with mneTV and is available on Sky channel 168 and on Freesat channel 110.